The Throne of Mnemosyne
by hitman359
Summary: An Elsewhere fic that takes place two years before the main story line. Follows a cast of OC's who attempt to uncover the secrets of the world and stop the repetition of a great cataclysm that brought the world to its current state.
1. So This is Mahora

Chapter 1: So This is Mahora

It was a beautiful, clear day. Like one would imagine the ones in those idyllic paintings at the art museums were like. Flowers were blooming, birds flying and chirping, and kids running to their classes without a significant care in the world, ignorant of the intrigues that lurked just beyond their perceptions. Among them walked a middle aged man with short dark hair and black eyes, a man who had seen past the veil of consensus reality. He hadn't seen past it by choice though, and would have rather liked to remain as foolish as everyone else, but had seen too much. He had seen demons struck down by the dozens in a single, perfect stroke of a Katana that would make masters of Iaido green with envy. He had seen large artifacts materialize in an instant from what looked like the trading cards children played with. He had seen so many strange effects occur at the behest of ancient and near forgotten languages spoken by people in the dark alleyways of this world.

He was awake and totally sober during all of these occurrences, so it was definitely real, and his mind simply refused to allow him to reject what he had seen. It was part of who he was. He kept it all to himself though, fearing commission to an asylum if he ever mentioned the things he has seen to anyone else, even his own family. Still, he knew what he had seen, and desperately sought an explanation, any explanation, that would satisfy his relentlessly logical mind and finally give him some sense of peace.

It was here he was struck once more with an impossible sight. In the distance he saw a tree. This type of tree was unlike any he had ever seen, far larger than ought to be possible in this part of the world, or any part of the world for that matter. The tree had to be at least 20 meters at breast height, wider than even the largest giant redwoods, and it's branches stretched out much farther than he thought ought to be possible. It was alien. Its existence was a complete contradiction to the laws of nature and science, just looking at it gave him a slight headache. Indeed, he'd had one ever since he'd set foot on the academy's grounds. He quickly retrieved the flask he hid inside his longcoat and took a swig to eliminate the dull pain. That pain, the same pain he felt whenever he saw those things that ought not be, why was it so omnipresent here?

"So this is Mahora Academy" he said to himself. It looked somewhat like Harvard University, only much larger. It had to be, for one could receive a K-12 education and beyond from this one institution. It was well reputed and accredited, which is why he had sent his son to study here. Scott was a Senior in high school and doing quite well, consistently ending up on the A-B honor roll. He had an interest in science, but he was already a master of philosophy. That was mainly his father's fault, for he had turned to the thoughts of ancient thinkers, theologians, conspiracy theorists, and occultists to find the answers he was searching for. None of their answers satisfied him. However, as fathers often do, he passed all that he knew and discovered to his son. Though determined to study science instead, he thanked his father for teaching him to think logically and see things in many impossible, even illogical, lights.

All that reading also had several secondary benefits. For one, the vast amount of knowledge he had acquired enabled him to simply test out of many university classes. As such he quickly amassed several Baccalaureate and Master's degrees in the liberal arts. This enabled him to make a meager living as a pseudonymous editorial writer and blogger.

"Now, where are the male dormitories supposed to be?" he said to himself.  
"Um, sir, are you lost?" A cute young girl asked.  
"I suppose so, I can't find the way to the place I want to be."  
"You're looking for the male dorms, right?"  
"Yeah, the ones holding high school age children."  
"Oh? I know where they are, can I show you?"  
"Sure, if it's not any trouble."  
"Ok then, follow me!"  
"Miss, if I may, what is your name?"  
"Tomino Ai, and yours?"  
"Alexander, Alexander Cipher."  
"Oh, I've heard that name somewhere before" She put her hand to her chin and assumed a pensive stance, a moment later her face lit up, "Hey! Are you Scott's dad?"  
"Yes actually, I'm here to visit him."  
"Weird, he looks nothing like you."  
"I know," He faked a smile "I always found it strange too."

The truth was, Scott wasn't his son in the biological sense, but rather, he was adopted around the age of 4. Alexander knew that a child was unlikely to be adopted by someone once they were older than the age of 2, and he had always hated that. "Everyone deserves at least one loving parent" was his reasoning. Scott was smart, kind, and above and beyond all else, a good person. He deserved better, and Alex was glad he gave him that.

"Here's the male dorm, Scott's room is 115." She quickly clasped her hands around her mouth.  
"I'm sorry for prying, but do you know Scott?"  
"Well I…" She started to blush. Cipher noticed this and formulated a few possibilities.  
"Oh? Are you perhaps…"  
"No no no. I don't, I mean," Her face was bright red, and her gaze quickly shifted towards her own feet. He didn't expect this possibility to be the correct one.  
"Do you like him?"  
"Wha, why would I…" she started waving her hands in front of herself. He hit the nail on the head.  
"Look, if you like someone, you should just come out and tell them. Suppressed emotions and contemplations of what could have been aren't good for your mental health."  
"But what if he's not single! What if he rejects me? I know too many things about him, what if he thinks I'm a crazy stalker or…" Cipher interrupted her.  
"He's single, and quite unhappy about it I might add. He's really shy about these things though, I doubt he'd hit on anyone unless he was well and thoroughly drunk, no matter how enamored he was of someone. But, if someone were to hit on him…" he was interrupted  
"But I'm only 14!"  
"So?" He said without skipping a beat, "He's just four years older than you, that's not very illicit from a logical standpoint."  
"But, what if he rejects me? What if he…" He interrupted her.  
"'What if?' asked endlessly, always resolved negatively, is the mark of a coward. The only way to avoid risk is to be a dead and rotting corpse. Life is risk, it is uncertainty, it is chaos. If you never try, you'll never know if your worries were ever founded in reality. Besides, what if the 'what ifs' are resolved positively? What if he says he likes you too? What then? Did you even consider that outcome?".  
"But…"  
"You seem to be a kind, sweet girl. And you're certainly not ugly. He isn't looking for much and is easily pleased. Therefore, he's well within you league. However, he's not good at subtlety, so be sure to be overt about your intentions."  
"But I can't stop worrying…" She was an open book, one could tell at a glance exactly what was going through her mind. He always like people like that, despite the fact that they also made him jealous.  
"Stop worrying. Just tell him, or rather, show him how you feel next time you get the chance."  
"But…"  
"Quit with the 'but's' and 'What ifs' already! Just take the plunge and ask him out!" He took a deep breath, "*sigh* I already told you he's single and looking, what more do you want?"

Not many things actually got a rise out of him, and this wasn't one of them. However, he learned long ago that feigning that sort of thing was often required to get other people to listen to you, or for them to even think that you even had emotions in the first place. He couldn't explain why, but his emotions felt like they were always somehow disconnected from his person. He could be boiling over with rage and hatred, but unless he made a conscious effort to express himself, you'd never know it. His face and voice would always remain tranquil and somewhat blank unless he consciously tried to make them conform to his inner feelings.

"Yeah…" A sense of resolution emanated from her as she slammed her fist into her palm. "Yeah! You're right! I need to just confess and tell him how I feel!"  
"Now that's how it's done!" He said, doing his best to form a comforting smile.  
"Thanks mister Cipher, but, don't tell him about this. I want to surprise him."  
"Alright, just be sure to act on your feelings from now on. Ok?"  
"Ok, bye!" and then she ran off waving to him, her face filled with contentment.

The wind kicked up a moment later, revealing her panties for an instant. That kind of thing seemed to happen almost every chance it had to for some reason. Even if magic existed, he still couldn't explain it.

He made his way to Scott's room. The dorm was nothing out of the ordinary, and the pain in his head was starting to subside. As he got closer he began to hear the sound of an electric guitar. He wasn't a big metal fan, but he didn't truly dislike it either. He could see why his son loved it so much, but it just wasn't for him. The song he was hearing now elicited a feeling of defiance, as though one was taking on the entire world and was fully confident that they would win. The headaches, the pain that came when he witnessed the impossible. Something important was on this campus, something someone didn't want "normal" people like him to know about, and he was going to find out what it was.


	2. Huh? You Mean It's Wierd?

Chapter 2: Huh? You Mean It's Weird?

Scott was certainly an otaku, but though he was born and raised in Japan, he'd be more at home at Otacon than Comiket. His room was rather Spartan. Cheap bed, cheap sheets, cheap everything. He didn't have much in the way of furniture or decoration, only a few posters for various anime and games he was especially fond of. This was mainly because most of his spare cash went towards more anime, manga, and video games. Though a devout nerd, he never bothered to learn much about composers, directors or voice actors, instead choosing to obsess over the plots, settings, and references contained within the media he devoured. He didn't know much about Megumi Hayashibara, save that she was hot. He knew nothing of Osamu Tezuka, save that he was a full M.D. and every mangaka in Japan and the world over seemed to worship the ground he walked on. But he did know most everything about the settings they were involved in.

"It's been awhile." Said Alex.  
"Since we've met face to face anyway, over a year it fact."  
"I wish I would have gotten here sooner, and more often."  
"Don't worry about it. I know you've been working hard on those editorials, not to mention that book of yours. Besides, you did keep in contact with e-mails and such." He smiled, "Thanks."  
"It is pretty much complete now. I do thank you for your suggestions in certain areas, they were quite helpful."  
"Stop sounding so formal and crap!" Scott protested.  
"Sorry, it's just how I normally talk."  
"Well it's annoying, so stop it! Still, you seem to skip the formalities when you got a few drinks in you. Speaking of which…" He stood up on his chair and pushed a ceiling tile up, reached up and grabbed a fifth of spiced rum. "Imported from the outside, not an easy feat. You got any of your own?"

"But of course," Cipher said as he withdrew a bottle of sake from his longcoat.  
"Sweet, can I have some?" Scott asked eagerly.  
"Yes you can, just don't throw up on me."  
"Have I ever done so before?"  
"That one time on Saint Patrick's day."  
"Oye, I'll never live that down will I."  
"After what you did, I was surprised nobody called the police."  
"Everyone in that bar was drunk, even you! Nobody remembered a thing!" He stood up and pointed his finger at Alex's face, his face beat red.  
"Except, perhaps, me and you."

He balled his fists and looked away "Grrrr..."

"Don't worry, we promised to never speak of it to anyone else."  
"Then why do you keep bringing it u-uuuup!" He said in a whiny tone, "The walls have ears you knowww."  
"Too many ears. All those voices, all those people to keep an eye on. It's the same as not being watched at all, they have no true focus."  
"Yeah, well, how about we lose ours for a few hours."  
"Agreed, let's start drinking."

This was, obviously, not the first time the two of them drank together. Alcohol loosened inhibitions, enabled people to speak in complete honesty with one another. Sadly, when Scott got drunk he only wanted to talk about anime, manga, and video games, whilst either watching, reading or playing the one he was talking about. The one he was obsessed with lately was a science fiction RPG. After a few swigs of sake and a shot of rum he lamented about how there aren't many RPG's that use that type of setting.

"Magic and Technology are really just about the same thing, and it's not like you can't cook up some psuedo-scientific justification for cool stuff. Minovsky particles, nanomachines, most anything will work so long as it's internally consistent. Plus, giant robots. I dig giant robots, but it's just so hard to put them in a fantasy setting ya know?"  
"So this game has a lot of things you like then?"  
"Ok let's go down the list. Hot chicks, badass story, great soundtrack, giant robots, references that fly over 90 percent of the population's head, and all in a plot that's only half as confusing as Eva's! Yeah, I love this game!"  
"That Eva comparison is pretty apt, these guys are really harping on the Christian references. What is it with you and religious symbolism anyway? Aren't you supposed to be a devout Catholic? Shouldn't you find this offensive?"

"Honestly, no. In fact, I love every bit of it! It looks cool, it sounds cool, it _is_ cool. Untold billions of Otaku around the world just can't be wrong! This stuff sells almost as well as sex! _Almost_, heheheh."  
"How do you know that?"  
"Ok, If you let me, I can list a metric frakton of works that are not only insanely popular and well reputed, but also have enough symbolism to make the Pope blush. It ain't all Christian mind you, but it's sure as hell religious."  
"I'd rather not, you'll go on for hours."  
"All the more reason to believe me."

After about an hour Scott stopped playing the game and popped in an anime, which they also discussed. It was about an eclectic bunch of high school girls in pinkish red uniforms. It was a very strange anime to be sure, and not nearly as "intellectual" as the game, but Scott loved it all the same. An easy audience, most anything entertained him. After the both of them were well and completely wasted, it occurred to Alexander ask him about the school itself.

"So, do you ever see anything...strange here?" He said sleepily.  
"Like what?" He said as he swung the bottle of sake wildly, his voice taking on the bad Scottish accent that indicated he was completely shitfaced.  
"You know, like, the stuff the you see in those games and anime."  
"Like, fantasy and sci-fi stuff happenin' in real life?"  
"Yeah, anything like that here?"  
"Awwww hell yeah. That tree's just too damn big, de library could easily pass for a D&D dungeon, and I swear, on some days, there's a lit-tle girl prancin' about with what looks like a blood-thirsty pup-et." he said in a sing-songy tone.

"Ever talk to them?"  
"God no, they're scary as all hell. The Girl looks like she wana sucks me blood or sumthin'. An' tha doll, oh dear god if ye heard the shit she says!"  
"How can you be afraid of *gulp* a little girl and a puppet?"  
"If ye met em', ye'd know." He said in all seriousness.  
"What's in that library? If you, don't mind me asking?"  
"Pitfalls, traps, and things that can generally lead to horrible injery and deadness if ye get really stupid!" He took another swig of sake. "It's not even, (hic), been fully explored. There's a club trying to do so, but I don't wana join."  
"Why not?"  
"Aye, I'd rather play video games then climb bookshelves!"  
"Any reshtricted sections?"  
"Heck yeah! Bet dat's where dey keep da good stuff. Gutenberg bible, Dresden Codex, who knows!"  
"Anything else that's not right with this place?"He paused for a second. "Aye, though ya'll think I'm crazy. Some days I see people casting spells and whatnot like they larpin' Harry Potter or someting, but the kicker is dat their spells actually go off!"

That comment caused Alexander to go dead sober. He paused to collect his thoughts and asked.

"Ever ask them how they pull it off?"  
"Nah, it's pry just me imagination. Lots o' drama clubs and stuff, they be doin' some incredible things wit CGI nowadays."

CGI, every time he questioned a purveyor of insanity on the physical laws they just broke he always heard them say 'It's CGI'. Bullcrap, the world is not a holodeck, nor is it a consensual illusion. Reality has laws that cannot be violated no matter how much we desire that wasn't the case. Objects do not 'fall up', a tree cannot be that big, fire and ice cannot spring from a bare hand at the behest of a dead language.

"You know that's impossible right? The world isn't a holodeck ya know."  
"Lot's o' tech they keep secret, only God knows what they be cookin' up in Area 51...or in our very own science club for dat matter. That Hakase girl and her posse somehow got da funds and da brains to pull off all sorts a' crazy sit!"  
"It still sounds like a pretty thin excuse Scott, you sure that's a good explanation?"  
"It's either that, or say something crazy like it was magic. And we all know dere ain't no such thing as magic. Sufficiently advanced tech on de od'er hand…"  
"Humanity hasn't reached that point yet for too many reasons to list here, why do you think it has?"  
"Who's ta say it hasn't? Lots o' things we don't know about."

It was obvious that logic just wasn't going to work here. Scott had his explanation to the weirdness on campus. Still, something just wasn't right. He usually had such an open mind about these kinds of things. He never discounted anything out of hand. Yet this is exactly what he was doing here. There was a possibility that Alexander conceived of that would explain quite a lot, including this sudden yet isolated change in Scott's character. But the thought of such a thing was, unimaginable. Too horrible to accept without the most serious of evidence.

Then a flash of instinct overtook him. He had his suspicions, but now he was absolutely certain. The answers he'd sought for over 30 years were here in Mahora Academy; most likely within the deepest parts of that library! Thankfully, the Mahora festival was in a few days. It was a major event that always managed to draw quite the large crowd over the course of three days. So many people would put quite a strain on any security apparatus, including any secret ones that may attempt to stop an infiltration into the restricted sections.

After a few more hours of carefree enjoyment and revelry he said goodbye and goodnight to his son. He would have to make some legally questionable preparations if he was to succeed.

* * *

And here's Chapter 2. I'll get to the badass action sequences soon enough. Remember, it took the original series a bit to pick up in that regard, and yours truly is trying to emulate it in his own way. Also, daddy loves constructive criticism, not flames and/or adulation. I do suck, but not completely...I hope anyway. Also, check out . It was those great and hilarious articles, among other things, that inspired me to start writing this in the first place.


	3. Cosplay, A Million And One Uses

Chapter 3: Cosplay, A Million and One Uses

"Why am I doing this?" Alexander asked in an annoyed tone.  
"You're doing this because you owe me big for helping smuggle that gear of yours into this Alcatraz." he said while thinking 'Thank God I didn't have to keester stash!'

"Not good enough, why?"  
"My dear father, did you know I could get at least 30 years for even holding a single piece of that pistol you made me sneak in here? Still, a suppressed Glock 18, I'm actually impressed. How the hell did you get _that_ into Japan?"  
"I know people who know people…who know people serving life sentences."  
"Ahahaha, that's the way!" He smiled wide and patted him on the back, "Still, don't feel so embarrassed about this. You should read the novels that this character comes from. He's a lot like you. Intellectual, paranoid, stoic..."

Scott continued on for the next five minutes describing the character, novels, and setting that was the inspiration for the costume. This common tendency of his annoyed Alexander, but he put up with it. If only Scott knew just how close the real world was to the settings he described so passionately...He might accept it. If his father was the one telling him, he'd probably accept it. But what if he was wrong? Would his son call him crazy? Would he think it a cruel joke? The consequences of a mistaken judgment on this were too much to accept. So, he stayed silent about the truths he had witnessed firsthand, no matter how much it pained him to do so.

"How do you keep all this stuff in your head anyway?"  
Scott crossed his arms in front of himself "Awesomeness," he balled his fists in front of his face then threw them to his waist as he assumed an epic pose, "is the ultimate mnemonic device!"  
"Would that you were this passionate about your studies."  
"I get A's and B's, so can it. Besides, all of these 'fantasies' matter more than you think they do. Fiction and philosophy are essentially the same, and they're just about as influential when it comes to our daily lives. Now, let's go outside. We need some good backgrounds."

The outfit consisted of a heavy brown overcoat with green shoulder armor, a studded leather cuirass made from used belts, another thicker belt with an imprinted golden buckle at his waist, heavy duty black jeans and knee high leather boots. It was also rather ornate, fake gold trimmings, tassels, chains, seals, engravings, and even books and scroll containers (which were also overloaded with frivolous decorations). Such an outfit could only be imagined and constructed by individuals suffering from neurosis. Well, at least they're not burning down buildings…

After Scott had taken enough pictures to satisfy himself and his various friends he demanded they spent the next few hours together enjoying the sights, sounds, and events of the festival. It was such a strange and over the top thing, cosplay contests, martial arts tournaments, fine food and alcohol, most anybody could find something to enjoy here, which is why it brought in so much money. Scott wouldn't let him change while he was with him though. He insisted that he stay in costume so that others could view the hard work that he and his friends had put into it. It wasn't like other people weren't walking around in similarly outlandish outfits, so people didn't leer at him or think him out of the ordinary. Some even went so far as to compliment him on his costume. They spent their day enjoying the sights and sounds of the festival. They both had a very good time as a result, it would always be a happy memory for them both.

As the sun began to set he told Scott it was time and headed straight for library island. He didn't bother to change, as he'd already stored everything he could possibly need in that costume.

"Tacitus always said the final refuge of crime was in audacity. Bastard's never steered me wrong yet, so here I go." he thought.

The library expedition club wasn't that large compared to the most popular ones and in fact kept a lot of its materiel secret. However, they had also scanned their records into a server in order to efficiently disseminate them to their members. Only high school and university level members could access the maps to the restricted sections, a precaution meant to ensure that younger members did not attempt to go into the deeper parts and get into situations they likely couldn't handle. Fortunately for Alexander, their mainframe wasn't all that secure. Honestly, it didn't have to be. It's purpose was simply to serve as a repository of the clubs gathered knowledge of the complex (which was sadly incomplete) as well as provide a record of the most interesting stories that members had to tell about their adventures. Such information was desired by few people outside the club and its members had few if any true enemies. In other words, not much ICE, easy hackin'.

The records he retrieved included a 'treasure' map as well as information on a secret entrance that not even the administration was privy too. This wasn't good, for the few times in his life where everything fell into place always ended badly. Women, research, or even a sale on top shelf liquor. All eventually ended in bad memories, terrifying discoveries, or both. Yet he wasn't about to turn back now. The answers he sought were here he was sure of it.

"This is the 'secret' entrance?" He thought to himself, There was an elevator that didn't want to work, and a large double door. "Pretty obvious for something that's supposed to be secret."

Alexander took a deep breath and opened the secret passage into the hidden depths of the library.

What awaited him beyond those great doors was an alien world conceivable only to the mangakas and authors that Scott adored. Bookshelves dominated the landscape, but they were the somehow the most normal feature. Plateaus, rivers, waterfalls, islands...If one could imagine the world itself transformed into a library, they could begin to imagine what Alexander saw before him. The deeper he journeyed, the more dangerous it became. At first he only waded through shallow waters and walked atop bookshelves of average height. Later on he ran through corridors that belonged on starships, rappelled down sheer waterfalls leading to mysteriously shallow lakes, and walked atop shelves so tall that even his expensive and blindingly bright flashlight was unable to reveal the floor they certainly stood upon. His son was correct, these restricted sections were indeed packed with rare folios and texts long thought lost to history. Did this place hold the lost texts of Aristotle that were praised so highly by the ancient thinkers? The schematics of Heron tragically lost in fires of Alexandria? Perhaps, but what he sought was forbidden and truly unknown, not merely forgotten.

At the end of the map, at the base of a bookshelf that consumed the last of his paracord, he stood before a passage so small that most men could not hope to enter it. Thankfully, his unusual characteristics served him well here. Though he worked out, his arms never bulged. Though he ate of fattening foods, he never put on the pounds he was supposed to. Though he was certainly middle aged, his size was more suited to a man much younger and sedentary than himself. In other words, he was small, and thus could fit into the spaces, barely fit into it mind you, but fit. He was starting to get a headache, but this time he was very happy about it.

"Good, I must be getting close to whatever it is they don't want me to see."

After about 10 minutes of crawling he came across a tile outlined in light. He pushed on it and it gave way. He crawled out of that claustrophobic corridor and into a great hall. Before him were two humongous statues. They were obviously knights, one armed with a sword, the other with a hammer. Both were kneeling down, facing a book that lied between them. Then a wave of unbearable pain wracked his skull. His head throbbed so hard he thought it was going to explode.

He fell to his knees and chugged his emergency flask. He always carried two, the normal one only contained Sake. This one, however, contained 190 proof booze. After chugging down half of it the pain subsided. He was sure if it now, though he only suspected it before. Every time he got one of those headaches, something was trying to alter his mind. Was it trying to make him forget? To run away? Memories of incantations muttered, of bright light, of horrible pain flooded into his memory. Was this the same thing? Was this the final trap? It had to be. Yet somehow, for some mysterious reason, he was completely immune to such things.

"Why, why have I been given this gift? Why am I immune?" He thought to himself. He felt a bit woozy, but he could function. He stood up.

"It will take more than that to defeat me sorcerer! Reveal yourself!" he drew his firearm. "I will not falter! If you wish to stop me you will have to kill me! At least make this an honorable duel and show me your face you bastard!"

He made sure to show his emotions. He was angry…and desperate.

But there was no answer. He looked around, but only bookshelves, statues, a bridge over an abyss, and an open book upon a pedestal revealed themselves to his eyes. There was nowhere to hide. He was alone.

"So this was the final trap? A powerful psychic assault of some kind? Clever, I expected camera turrets, claymores, or perhaps a giant boulder." he thought. There was no turning back now. His truth lay before him, that book probably held it. He need only walk across the bridge and grasp it in his hand. He was about halfway across when the bridge opened up and surrendered him to the merciless forces of gravity. He threw his grappling hook, but it clanked inches short of the edge of the bridge length trap door. Damnit! He'd pulled that maneuver off several times before…the booze. To get over the debilitating pain this chamber induced, he had to exchange motor function and reaction time. Clever little whores, they thought of everything. He fell into the darkness, certain that his demise await him at the bottom. He closed his eyes and accepted his fate.

"I'm sorry Scott. I'm so sorry." For one of the few times in his life, tears welled up in his eyes of their own accord. It was his only regret, that because of this selfish adventure his adopted son would once again be left without a father. Once again, he would be alone. His tears were now flowing like rivers as he plunged into oblivion. They formed a stream of droplets above him as he fell into the darkness.

* * *

Well, here's another chapter. I actually got a few more on my hard drive. I'll put them up when I feels like it :P


	4. Finally, An Explanation!

Chapter 4: Finally, An Explanation!

* * *

He felt weightless for over a minute, but instead of slamming into the ground and being crushed into a fine paste, he landed softly.

"Yeah that's right..." He thought. "You're not supposed to feel it when you die like that. Wait, why can I still think?"

He felt soft, gentile sand beneath his body, the sound of tranquil silence all about him. Still, it wasn't a complete silence. He swore he could hear the lapping of water upon a shore. He opened his eyes.

"What...What is this place?" he said to himself.

The landscape before him was impossible. Though deep underground, it was filled with a gentile and pure light. A great lake presented itself before him, propagated by bookshelves and islands. The waters were pure, clear, and fresh, more than able to quench his thirst and cleanse his body. There was even a Victorian house in the distance, covered in roots and vines yes, but still undeniably pristine and beautiful.

He dove into the waters and investigated the bookshelves submerged there. The texts he recovered were unusual. They were written in Latin, a language he had just recently began to learn. However, even his inexperienced eyes could decipher peculiar properties within them. The texts showed clear symptoms of linguistic drift. This ought to have been impossible. Latin is supposed to be a dead language. "Dead" languages don't experience this phenomenon. Syntax and the meanings of words do not change over time unless the language is used in day to day life. They also don't have any borrowed words from the modern forms of other languages like English and Japanese, yet here they were. However, that was all secondary to what these texts described. These were texts on magic and alternate history, yet they were unlike the occult or apocryphal works he had read. These books were nothing like Aleister Crowley's "The Book of the Law", Frazier's "The Golden Bough", or even Leon's "Zohar". He could barely understand the titles of these works, let alone the information contained within. He needed someone with knowledge of ancient Latin. Such an individual may be able to parse through the drift within these pages and arrive at the true meaning the authors were aiming for.

Niven could do it, he was recognized as one the foremost authorities on ancient Latin, but could he trust him? The more he thought about their conversations, the more certain he became that he knew more than he was telling him. What would a priest hide from him? Did he know the truth? Was he in on whatever 'conspiracy' kept the things he had seen confined to the unseen and unacknowledged places in this world?

He dove down into the deepest depths and procured the most provocative titles he could decipher. "High Ancient Incantations for Dummies", "Strange Tales from the Old World", "True Histories of the Magical World", "Annual Journal on Offensive Magic, 1984", a small and unassuming work titled "The Throne of Mnemosyne" hidden behind a Latin copy of "The Sickness Unto Death", and a strange tome labeled "The book of E" the title was obviously supposed to be longer, but the rest had been purposefully scourged out of the leather binding for some reason. Said title also looked to have been done post market, scratched into the spine with whatever sharp instrument was nearby at the time. Sure enough, all were written in the unreadable Latin he had anticipated. They had either been written by authors who had experienced too much lingual drift, or were in a form of Latin so archaic that only the likes of Niven could ever hope to decipher them. Frighteningly, none of them experienced any real damage despite being submerged in water. In fact, once he brought them out of the water they dried off quickly, the pages becoming legible and turnable without inflicting damage upon them almost instantly. Somehow, this impossibility failed to elicit the headaches such things normally did.

After the episode above, he had began to form theories and possibilities of whatever it was that kept everyone else from recognizing and accepting the magic that was all around them. Like in many contemporary works of fantasy, magic users had to be capable of erasing memories, so they didn't have to kill to keep the secret. Even so, the measure was only used as a last resort. Probably because they subconsciously perceived the immorality of such a practice.

"Yes," he thought, "this is the correct theory." I recited the theory to himself in his head.

Here's how it all goes down. A "cognizance field" puts the individual in an altered mental state where a person's natural tendency to dismiss "strange" or "unusual" things as tricks of the eye or something is greatly amplified. If questioned, the 'actor' would respond "It's CGI" or something similar, hopefully convincing them to do what they should have. If they did not, in the rare cases where one was somehow resistant to the field, they would either tell them the truth and order them to keep their mouth shut, or erase their memory. If they did purge their personal data banks, the only explanation that would remain then would be "Magic exists, and I somehow saw someone use it". That conclusion, however, is almost universally accepted as impossible even by the wackiest, most "out there" conspiracy theorists and tabloids. The response to the victim's forum post would read thusly;

"Where's the devil worship, the aliens, the reptilians, the pentagrams and human sacrifice? Huh, you mean it wasn't anything like that? That it's really more like in those Video Games, RPG's, fantasy novels and whatnot? Nonsense! We all know magic doesn't work that way! You're crazy! Stop posting this bullcrap, stop playing so many video games and for God's sake stop watching so much anime you wapanese wanker!"

There was no hope, the system was pretty much airtight. No mere mortal would ever be able pierce, let alone shatter, the masquerade.

Yet somehow, those cognizance fields and mem wipe spells don't work on me. Only one explanation fit the facts. I must have some kind of inborn trait that makes me immune to mind affecting spells and effects. Yet such an incredible gift comes at a price. It just isn't natural, is it. In all likelihood, my kind ought not exist in this world. Humans can sense these things, sense that some things ought not be, and they don't want to be anywhere near them.

He remembered that people always seemed to distance themselves from him in school despite the fact that he was always polite and cordial to them. No girl, no matter how desperate, ever hit on him nor did they respond positively to his romantic propositions. Nobody even sat next to him at lunch, and hardly anyone ever talked to him, even in dive bars. Not even his own parents wanted anything to do with him. He was always alone, rejected by everyone in the world.

His thoughts were digressing, he was losing the focus that had brought him this far. He had what he had sought for so long cradled in his arms, but now he had to find a way out. He had to get these materials to Niven. He would tell him. Despite whatever doubts Alexander had about him, he was still a good man, he hoped.

He began to search the outer walls. The house, thought beautiful, felt like yet another trap. It likely held a path leading further down, the exact opposite of what he wanted now. The walls were solid, and the amount of territory he had to explore vast, but within the span of a few hours he had found what he sought. Behind a waterfall was hidden a door leading to a great spiral staircase.

"What the hell, I've gone this far down? That's just not possible. Damnit, if that bastard doesn't tell me what I want to know…"

After half an hour of walking up those endless stairs, he arrived at an elevator. He pushed 1 and arrived at the other end of library. He ran as fast as he could, suppressed pistol in hand, to his car and deposited the books. He then headed to Scott's room and left the outfit. After this he headed to the nearest hotel and bribed the manager to forget he even existed. He had to be sure of a few things before he confronted Niven.

* * *

Yay, chapter 4. Hope you're not bored or nothing, this story really does pick up after a bit.


	5. Romantic Loose Ends

His father had just left.

"I hope he's able to find what he's looking for. Please God, guide him to where he needs to be." He prayed.

He headed back to his room and changed outfits. He put on Buddhist clothing consisting of purple and black cloth and grabbed a wood staff with an imitation brass ring head. He wondered the fair until night had truly fallen. After awhile he ended up before a set of stairs leading to a great view of the immense world tree.

"Now that my old man mentions it, it is rather huge now isn't it?" he thought.

"Umm…Hello!"Said a young maiden with elven ears.

"Why hello miss, forgive me for asking, but would you please bear my children?"Said Scott.

"I, um, I…" Said the young maiden. He grabbed her hand and looked longingly into her eyes, she blushed and turned away from him.

"Woah! I'm sorry! I was just trying to act in character!" He said waving his hands in front of himself.

"What if I wanted you to act that way?" She asked, her complexion unchanged.

"Huh?" He said in a surprised tone.

"Scott Cipher, do you remember my name?" She looked into his eyes as she gripped his hand.

"Hmmm…You're Tomino Ai right? The middle schooler from the science club?"

"Yes."

"Sweet." He smiled

"Scott," She grabbed his hand and squeezed as hard as she could for a second before saying, "tell me, how do you feel about me?"

"What?" Now he was blushing, "Well I…"

"Do you like me?" She pressed his hands to her chest so that he could feel her pounding heart.

"I know I shouldn't feel this way, but, but…*gulp*" He thought. Now he was completely beat red, as if steam would blow from his ears at any moment.

"Tell me, please." She looked pleading into his eyes.

That just about knocked him unconscious. His emotions were flaring, causing a rush of indescribable feelings to overtake his body. He knew that if he tried to speak all that would come out would be gibberish. He needed to center himself so he could tell her what he wanted to. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, the rhythm of her heart aiding his attempts. After almost a minute had passed he had regained control of control and said.

"Have you ever heard of Regine Olsen?" His eyes were still closed.

"No. Is she another girl at this school?" He felt her heart sink.

"What? No!" her heart immediately resumed its attempts to burst out of her chest, "She was a girl whose existence changed the life of a philosopher whom I draw a great deal of inspiration from. He was much older than she was, yet they were both attracted to each other from the moment they made eye contact. Though she cared for him as deeply as he cared for her, for some reason he rejected her desperate pleas that he stay with her. In doing so, he shattered both of their hearts."

"So what happened?" She asked.

"The philosopher and the girl went their separate ways. However, he never got over his thoughts of her and what could have been. He had truly loved her, yet he pushed her away for reasons he could not justify to himself."

"But if he loved her, why did he push her away?" Their faces were inches away from each other.

"Nobody really knows for certain. The only man who could tell us for sure is long dead." They stood there frozen for a few seconds before Ai broke the silence.

"If you were him, what would you have done?"

He forced himself to look into her glistening brown eyes, "I wouldn't repeat his mistake." He said as he took her into his arms, grabbed the back of her head and kissed her passionately. She returned the favor.

After a few moments she asked,"Why didn't you tell me you liked me?"

"I didn't know what to say. The first day I saw you in that lab coat working on those equations, I wanted to hold you. Whenever my eyes met yours in passing, I wanted to kiss you. Above all else, I wanted to see you smile for me…yet I couldn't explain why. I didn't even know you, but I couldn't stop thinking about you! I wanted so badly to date you, but I didn't know how to broach the subject with you…so I didn't." He said sorrowfully.

She smiled, grabbed his head and pressed his forehead to hers, looked deep into his eyes and asked, "Why didn't you just come up and try to talk to me?"

"I didn't know what to say. I honestly suck at conversations, especially with girls. I don't know how to start them, I don't know how to keep them going, and I don't even have much to say that'll interest anyone else but myself. Besides, every time I felt like trying I got too nervous and backed off."

"Ok then, why don't you practice with me?"

"Right now?"

"Why not?"

He hugged her tightly, "Ok, just forgive me if I say something offensive."

She squeezed him in return, "I will, don't hold back, just talk about whatever comes to your mind. I'll give you pointers ok?"

"Alright, tell me, what do you think happiness is?"

"Well…"

They spend the rest of their night talking about a great many subjects and learned much about each other. They had a lot in common, goals, motivations, peevs and the like. They also discovered that most of the things one of them loved the other didn't, but they did share some interests, and could tolerate the things they didn't necessarily agree on. All in all, they really hit it off. When they both left each other they were happier than before they had confessed before the World Tree.


	6. Confessions, The Serious Kind

Confessions, The Serious Kind

It was now midnight a few days after the festival had ended. Niven lead a very small flock. It consisted of only a few ganguros and the decedents of the Christians who fell through the cracks of the shogunate era's purge.

The Catholic Church, for all its flaws, has served as a repository of ancient and sometimes forgotten texts. In the dark ages it preserved some of the knowledge of the Greeks and Romans so that humanity could one day resume its progress, if only partially. Books were chained to shelves so that priests and monks could not lend them out to the ignorant public who not were not only unable to read them, but would probably burn them to warm their families for the night. If the rumors were true, and they probably were given what little information Alex was able to pull from the texts in his possession, there was also a great secret library beneath the Vatican that contained terrifying works better left forgotten. A 'black library' containing the collected sum of knowledge that the church had gathered on demons and the occult. Had Niven been there?

"Probably", he thought, "Why the hell not. Old coot can keep his mouth shut damn well if he's been hiding the truth from his 'best friend' for 10 years." He was frightened, angry, and a bit delusional given the fact he hadn't slept in days. He was trying as hard as he could to decipher the texts. What he could decipher wouldn't allow him to sleep, but the Latin he couldn't was too altered or too ancient for him to decode at any reasonable pace. Even if he tackled each work one at a time, It'd take months just to slog through "The Secrets of the Throne of Mnemosyne", the shortest of the works he had on him. He needed help, and Niven could give it to him. But what if he was involved? What if he was a mage? He'd have to tell him everything, and that included mentioning he was immune to psychic assault and alteration. If he reported him to 'his' authorities they may lock him up, or worse, haul him off for experimentation. "Please," he thought, "please let him be a good priest."

He entered the confessional. "Forgive me Father for I have sinned." Said Alexander.  
"It's been quite awhile my friend, tell me, what have you done this time?"  
"It is not what I have done Father. Rather, it is what I have discovered."  
"And what is that my child?"  
"The truth about you, myself, and this world." he was lying about 'you', but feigning possession of such knowledge is a great way to get your hands on it.  
"And what is that truth my son?"  
"Dispense with these pleasantries and lies, father." He said indignantly, "I finally know the truth you have kept from me all these years."  
"And what truth is that, Cipher?"

"You're a mage, and a very powerful one at that. You have hidden so much from me, but now I hold in my arms the proof you thought unobtainable to the mere mortal hands I possess." Niven got up and stepped outside the confessional, and Alexander did likewise.

Niven was an elderly European gentlemen who looked every bit his 72 years. He always walked around with what looked like an ordinary staff, likely to drive home the shepherd metaphor that the church likes to push so much. His eyes were emerald green and gave off an undeniable sense of worldliness. They were the eyes of a man who had seen darn near everything there is to see.

"Such things are nonsense. Have you been drinking?"  
"Shove it Niven, I have the proof. I have the leverage here, and you are damn well going to give me answers." He threw the recovered texts and a stack of papers down at his feet.  
"Tell me you bastard. Do I have any of this wrong? Did I butcher this dead language so thoroughly that I sound stupid and insane?"  
Niven looked at the titles of the books, scanned the papers Alexander had provided and answered, "No."  
"What?" He was surprised, it's not supposed to be this easy.  
"Alexander Cipher, my dear friend. Do you know how feverently I've prayed for this day?"  
"What day?"  
"The day you would discover the truth."  
"And that truth is?"  
"Have you not tried to translate these works on your own over the past few days? Did you not come to me only after you had reached an impasse?"

"I have, but that fact is irrelevant." With a solemn face he drew a revolver, lowered the hammer to produce that distinctive clicking sound, and leveled it between Niven's eyes, "As I said before, I have the leverage here. And right now leverage takes the form of a .44 magnum leveled at your head loaded with tungsten carbide rounds. I doubt even your kind can stop them at this range. As I said, I want answers. Trust me, I _will_ kill you if you don't give me what I want. You can read these works, you know what I do not. Fill in the blanks for me. Give me your piece of the puzzle." He pushed the gun into Niven's forehead. "Now."

"You won't kill me." Niven said calmly.  
"You so sure about that fucktard!" He was trying as hard as he could to sound as unstable and frightening as he could. He knew he had to make it look like the primal centers of his brain were controlling him if he ever wanted a person like Niven to fear for his life and tell him the truth.

"Yes. I am. You are no murderer Cipher. Indeed, you are one of the most pure, holy, and noble souls I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. You won't kill me." His hand quivered, a few more PSI exerted by his fingers on that custom trigger and it would have given way, firing the bullet contained within straight through Niven's skull.

"Don't you _dare_ presume to know who and what I am you bastard!" He said with as much hatred as he could muster.

"I don't presume, Cipher. I know. I also know most everyone you've ever known has rejected you, that the world itself has effectively told you that you do not belong here and ought never have been born. You should have become a homicidal maniac or something similar, but you didn't. This is because you possess a gift few have or even desire, a conscience. You didn't have it in the past, but you do now. You are one of the few that know that the end does not justify the means. Because of this fact, I will tell you everything. People like you deserve the truth. You deserve paradise."

"And what is this truth, father? Tell me. Am I schizophrenic? Am I insane?" He lowered his weapon.  
"No, you are not. Indeed, you are perhaps the only sane man in an insane world." he took a deep breath, "Would you like a drink Cipher?"  
"And why would I want that now?"  
"Well, if I'm going to tell you the truth, I need to make a few preparations. One of them will cause you to get a rather nasty headache, and we both know that aspirin and other painkillers have no effect on the kind of headache this particular preparation gives you. You've had it every time you've endured the impossible. Also, this exposition is going to take awhile, so you might want to go to the bathroom before I begin."

His words called a memory to the surface of his mind. It was 10 years ago. He was driving into the parking lot when he suddenly got a migraine, but he would tough it out. He was driving after all. He had a lot of things on his chest and didn't trust a psychologist to not ask questions and keep their mouths shut. He was involved in illegal activities and had friends who were in prison. He needed someone to talk to that was outside the dregs, yet could be trusted regardless. Priests are bound by canon law to keep anything and everything they hear in a confession secret, _period_. If so much as one bit of that information finds its way to anyone else, they get excommunicated, no exceptions. That fact is what made Catholics go to confession, it was that fact that ensured the priest was someone who would remain silent no matter what you told him.

It was a very strange day now that he thought about it. The area around the church seemed more deserted than usual, as if people were actively avoiding going near it. He punched on the door hard...no response. After punching constantly for a few minutes he had given up. That bottle of Scotch he stashed away wasn't going to last the night now. He was about to leave when a voice called out to him.

"Who the heck is... You! You over there! You could have hurt the door!"  
"Yeah, so what?" He said indignantly.  
"Never seen your face in the communion line, what do you want?"  
"I really need someone to talk to, someone I know will keep their damned mouth shut. Punching the door as hard as I could was the quickest and most efficient method to garner your attentions. Am I wrong, 'father'?"  
"...Ok, give me 15 minutes. I'm ministering to a few members of the parish and in all fairness they were here earlier than you. I hope you understand."  
"Perfectly."

The rest writes itself. They got along quite well and shared many interests. He didn't seem as annoyed as people usually do when he's around them physically, but that was probably because he had to put up with annoying people on a daily basis. Still, he always seemed happy to see him, a thing that happened with depressing irregularity throughout his life.

"In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti (In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit)…" More Latin followed, but he couldn't quite figure it out.

There was a flash of light, quickly followed by a flash of sharp pain in his head. He took the shot of rather expensive single malt scotch Niven had given him. Smooth and flavorful without any hint of fire, it was some of the best booze he'd ever had.  
"15,000 yen a bottle. Obscene. Frivolous! And worth every. red. cent."  
"I agree, now out with the truth."  
"My friend, the truth will come out, but only if you indulge me in one request."  
"Ok, what is it?"  
He looked into his irisless eyes and solemnly said, "Will you hear my confession?"  
"That's an unusual request father, why do you need to confess."  
"I have committed many sins."  
"As they say, we're all sinners."  
"Few have sinned as much or as hard as I have Cipher. I need you to hear me in this…" He put his hands together, "please."  
"Alright...I swear that what you say here won't leave this room." he took a deep breath, "I'm ready."

Niven closed his eyes, took a deep breath himself, and began.

"My true name is Niven Ianaset Hephesanes, and for the past 50 years I have been a Catholic priest and a Magister Magi. I was a mage before this, born and raised in the country of Megalomesembria. It's a lot like Israel, only instead of being Jewish, you have to be human. Fresh out of my magical education, I was wondering what to do with my life when I met a positively radiant nun with deep blue eyes and a criminally sexy body taking a bit of a vacation in the Mundus Magicus. We talked at length about a great many things. During our many conversations, she convinced me that the most noble and worthwhile thing a man can ever do is help another. No matter if you will be reviled for it, and especially if nobody in the entire world will ever remember what you did, even the person you helped or saved. From that moment on I knew my purpose in life, to live and act according to that principle... and I am sorry to say that I have failed utterly."

"How so?"

"As a mage I am obviously able to use magic. What you probably don't know is that anyone, _anyone_, can use it. It's not a genetic trait, nor is it given only to a chosen few by the gods. And while you can make pacts with demons to access greater magic power, you certainly don't have to. Indeed, the CDF itself has stated in secret documents that most forms of magic are _not_ heresy. And in the event the existence of magic was ever revealed to the world, the pope himself would come out and say so."

"Then why do they keep it a secret, what do they fear?"

"They say they fear things like political destabilization, persecution, the horrors that may result from a fusion of magic and technology, anarchy, and other such nonsense. All of these things are not illogical of course, and the arguments I've heard for them are intuitively convincing. Yet we both know that what is convincing on its face is often completely absurd upon closer examination. And upon such examinations, I have concluded that everyone who has lectured me on such things are full of it. Ultimately, they keep magic from you for the same reasons they keep guns from falling into the hands of law abiding citizens."

"That analogy's stretching it a bit."

"No, it's not. Despite their many arguments, you cannot tell me that magic in and of itself causes conflict and death or that it would destroy your civilization if everyone had possession of it. We magisters know of the old world and take advantage of its 'technology' whenever we can. We even have spells that aid us in computer hacking for Christ's sake! None of this has hurt us nor the Mundus Magicus. Instead, it has helped it to become a quasi-utopia. Horrible things happen, wars have broken out, children have been slaughtered or worse, but in the end life over there is better than it is here. That was why I became a priest. The church would help me help others." Niven began to cry, "*Sniff* Like that nun, I too could save the lives of others. I could provide the guidance that so many lost and forsaken souls needed."

"So how have you failed father? Did you not save them? Did you not provide the guidance and companionship they needed?"

"I did" tears were now flowing down his ancient face, "Instead, it is what I did _not_ do for them. I did _not_ teach those people to fish. I did _not_ tell them how to use magic. I _could_ not, for if I so much as tipped them off to the existence of magic the administrative bodies of the magical world would have turned me into an ermine, locked me up in a prison, and never allow me to set foot in this world ever again!  
If I did the right thing, if I did what I _ought_ to have done, my work would have ended there. They would have taken me away from the people who needed me the most. So I swallowed my virtues, I betrayed my own faith and played ball so that I could at least save a few more people than otherwise would not have been. I compromised *Sniff* on what I ought not to have compromised on! A man should always do what he believes in his heart to be right. But...I didn't *Sniff* I didn't, Cipher. I did the opposite, and I've done it many times... and I'd do it all again if I had toooohuhuhuuuun..."

Niven broke down, hunched over and holding his face in his hands, he broke down. Alexander hugged him tightly. What else was he supposed to do?

"You did the right thing Niven. If you didn't do as you were told, so many others would have died. Because of you, so many more people live happy lives than otherwise would have."

"That fact changes nothing and you know it!" He pounded his fist on Alex's shoulder, "We both know that two wrongs will never make a right! Murder is murder no matter what any Ivory Tower asshat intellectual from Harvard or Tokyo U has to say! _They haven't seen what I have seen! _Those bastards have no idea what it's like down here in the trenches of the real world! They don't fully comprehend the fact that I could have saved so many others! That child in Zimbabwe, that pregnant woman in Wales *snoooort*...that group of people tearfully begging for their lives in Rawandaohhohooooo!" He once more became indecipherable.

Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all. Sometimes, all you have to do is simply be in the same room as someone else and hold them in your arms. Niven didn't need a justification for his sins, and he would have accepted none. What he needed now was another soul to hold and comfort him, to listen to the litany of curses he rattled off against himself and give no reply. Alexander indulged him in this. It was obvious he hated himself, hated his sins, and would never forgive himself for what he thought he had done no matter what anyone told him.

"Thank you, Cipher." He wiped the last of his tears from his eyes, "Thank you for everything you've done here."  
"Don't mention it. But I still have questions, and you have answers."  
"I did promise didn't I. Ok, shoot."  
"How did we forget about magic? How did it become a myth?"  
"I think I get what you're trying to say. In fact, I just may have an answer for you."  
"Then let's hear it."  
"I'm not sure it is the answer just yet. For some time now I've been on the trail of a great evil, I've only heard whispers and legends in the texts I've researched, but they are always the same whispers and legends across all sources."  
"So there's a chance it's factual."  
"Yes, and the thought of those weird tales being true give me nightmares, to wrap my head around the implications causes me to struggle to maintain my consciousness and sanity."  
"And just what is this horrible truth?"  
"I don't want to say, I want so dearly to be wrong on this. I don't want to give you the nightmares I have suffered every night."  
"Just tell me."  
"Not yet. However, I will tell you that I'll probably need your help to end it."  
"You mean destroy this evil?"  
"Yes. You do not possess the property of Anti-Magic like I had hoped. But by the grace of almighty God you are totally immune to mind affecting spells through some other, perhaps more terrifying, trait. That's a very useful power Cipher, not even Anti-Magic works like that."  
"Get to the point Niven."  
"You know how to fight. You how to throw a punch and how shoot straight, yet you don't know a thing about magic. It'd take you months of constant training for you to even manage the most basic cantrip, and years to get you to the level of a gifted magic school graduate who had been trained from the age he learned to speak. Thankfully, I have been working on a ritual that would enable you to reach the level of the latter in an instant. And in a few months of training with my friends, you should become a respectable combatant. You're probably no Nagi, but I can't shake the feeling that a great deal of power lies within you. We just need to access it."  
"Too good to be true Niven, what's the catch?"  
"I won't lie to you Cipher. We're talking 25, perhaps 50 percent chance of success. And that's if I don't mess up. Worst case scenario, the magical energy invoked will go berserk. Such an event can and will tear your body apart so thoroughly that not even your parents will be able to identify you remains."  
"Is it worth it?"  
"If I'm right about this..." He paused a second to think and responded, "Yes. Every second we waste is another second this evil may be unleashed. I cannot say that you are morally obligated to do so. You have a life here in the old world, meager and tragic as it may be. I have no right to order you, I can only ask you," He got down on his hands and knees and touched his head to the ground. "Will you risk your life for my cause Cipher?"  
"Is it dangerous?"  
"Unspeakably."  
"Will it make the world a better place?"  
"No, but if I'm right, our actions will ensure that the hope for a better world is not foolish and misguided."

He had no idea what this evil was, but it was enough to scare the hell out of Niven, and he'd never seen him like this in all the years he's known him. He was serious, and if something existed that ensured that all hope was naïve, then it simply could not be allowed to exist.

"Then I'll do it, I'll end whatever this is."  
"Hehe," Niven rose to his feet, "Just the answer I wanted to hear!" His ancient face was positively beaming.

"Glad I could make you happy old friend." they both poured another shot and toasted. They laughed and carried on, exchanging fantastic stories and philosophical sentiments. They were happy, both finally had found what they were seeking for so long.

* * *

Oye that was a long one eh? I swear we're getting close to some hot action and the introduction of the rest of the main cast, just hang on a bit longer. Also, if I haven't mentioned it before, I don't claim to own a damn thing in this story, not even the characters. Do whatever ya want with em' for all I care.

All I want is for you to tell me if you make a fanart of them or something similar. I wana see it and maybe comment on it if it's particularly awesome.


	7. A Ritual At Twilight

In order for the ritual to be performed, they would have to journey to what Niven called a "Ley Line Nexus". Though the 12 holy lands would also suffice, they were all well known and well guarded. Most other nexi were also closely observed by puritanical magisters as well, but one rather famous one was guarded almost exclusively by mere muggles. This nexus was Stonehenge, England. The muggles there did a pretty decent job of defending it, so the puritans saw little need to guard it themselves. This, however, left it open to exploitation by radical magisters like Niven. A few memory charms here, a repulsion spell there, plus a few buddies to defend you while you did your business, and you could do most anything you wanted with it. Oh yes, there's no way those narrow minded puritans wouldn't notice, but that's what underground contacts are for. Over the years Niven had discovered other people sympathetic to his causes, both human and otherwise. And they were more than happy to lend their influence, knowledge, and power to him at his request.

"So Cipher, how is Britain?"  
"Too many cameras. I don't like being watched by people itching to arrest me."  
"Hahaha! You know they can't see us right?"  
"That still doesn't make me feel any better."  
"You've said it yourself, so many cameras they may as well not be looking at you at all."  
"Yes, well, I said that when there weren't any cameras around…that I knew of anyway."  
"Touche."

The car was cloaked and they were in a hurry. It took them hours to get through customs and they had to start the ritual right at sunset. The driver looked like a punk rocker and was taking large swigs from a fifth of vodka. Niven said his name was Jason Sneck. He was obviously drunk, yet his driving skills were absurd even while inebriated. He effortlessly weaved between cars and trucks that had no idea he was even there.

"You cannot hope to stop me ya hopeless slaves!" said Jason. Niven said he was a smuggler he met in bar in the mundus magicus, running various forbidden items like love potions and gender bender pills from the boonies into the cities and diplomatic centers of that world. Though Jesus himself ministered to all, Alex just couldn't see Niven hanging out in the dive bars that he would have had to in order to meet such a person. After many close calls and a hard stop, they had arrived.

"Here we are." He said happily.

Pictures of stonehenge are everywhere on the internet and in libraries, so it's useless to describe it here. The sun was going down and there were 3 other strangely dressed people waiting for them. One was a horned woman with a strange heart like tattoo on her forehead and a thick tail coming out of her rear. She was almost completely flat (likely due to her sarashi), had an average face, and wore a deep blue denim shortskirt. She was also wearing thigh-highs and her forearms were bound in strips of leather with glowing runes inscribed upon them. Other than that, she was totally bare. The other woman was very well endowed yet dressed far more conservatively. She was obviously a kitsune, given her fox ears and multiple tails. The last one looked human, but he couldn't have been more than 15. He wore normal old world civilian clothes and sported a thick set of glasses.

"Just who are these people anyway?"  
"The boy is Emiya Itsuki, the fox is Ffion Rose, and the scantly clad one is Inari Mikoto."  
"Nice to meet you all, he already told you everything right?"  
"Almost everything Aleph." said Emiya.  
"Good." said Alex.  
"We should get started. Rose, I need you to contract with Cipher. Your irreconcilable personalities should make for an interesting result." Said Niven, smiling.  
"Ohhh goody! He's more handsome than what you described Niven. But the question is..." She sauntered over to Alex in a seductive manner. She wore a long sleeved shirt with a gray knee length skirt, black hose, and plain shoes. "What do you think of me?"

There was no denying she was a complete bombshell, even with golden eyes, fox ears and 5 tails flapping around. Hell, those things actually served to make her even more striking.

"You are just as the legends say you ought to be, kitsune."  
"Ohhhhh? You're pretty well read aren't you! I love that in a man. Yet there's something a bit...off-putting about you. Think it's a side effect of your little kink?" She pushed her finger against his head.  
"Probably, it'd sure explain what's happened to me over the years." he said unphased.

She put her hands on his face and looked into his eyes lustfully as she pushed his head into her breasts.

"You're just too handsome for your age, you know that? Just holding you makes me want to do things." Her eyes and voice were dripping with desire, "Please, let me do something to you..." she slowly moved her hands up his spine and to his cheeks. "Please..." Their faces were beat red. She kissed him deeply. The fact she wasn't human didn't bother him in the slightest. But though he anticipated many things, being propositioned was...

"Pactio!" said a new voice.  
Somehow, someone had drawn a magic circle at their feet without him noticing. "Damnit, I let my guard down!" he thought.

It activated, causing a bright flash of light. However, instead of causing a sharp headache, he felt a soothing warmth. Once the light began to subside, she withdrew her soft lips and moist tongue slowly. A children's playing card materialized before them. It showed a picture of him in the middle of an ornate hexagram surrounded by the 12 symbols of the zodiac. Only he wasn't dressed at all like in the picture. He had a determined look on his face and was holding his right hand in front of it. He wore a black shirt and black pants. Over them he was wearing a black sleeveless cossack trimmed in midnight blue. The cossack, however, wasn't complete. The part below his waist only covered his backside... His shins, forearms, and feet were armored in plate the same blue as the cossack was trimmed. Yet his hands were strange. They bore fingerless gloves with jewels on the 'top' that were so black they seemed to drain away the light around them. Not dull, but in no way shiny or reflective, they defied conventional description. There was writing as well, all in latin with a slight decorative flair to the text. Thankfully, Alex had been boning up on the language with Niven's help and could easily read it.

Crimen (Crimson)  
Alexander Cipher  
Magus Toleratia (Resigned Mage)  
Clementia (Compassion)  
Occidens (West)  
Jovis (Jupiter)  
VIII

"Wow! A super rare crimson level artifact! Summon it summon it summon it!" Said Ffion as she jumped up and down excitedly.  
"Alright...Adeat!"  
Another comforting flash of light engulfed him, putting him in the outfit he saw on the card.  
"That's it? Where's the artifact?"  
"Why you're wearing it my dear." This was a voice he'd never heard before. Unmistakably British, kind, and deviant. Like it belonged to some kind of restrained pervert.  
"Who's there, show yourself!" once more feigning emotions he didn't really feel all that strongly to get what he wanted.  
"Down here!" he looked down and saw a small creature who's fur is highly prized for making coats. "Name's Paula. I've never seen an artifact like this one though."  
"How do I use it?"  
"No idea, I just know that pactio spirits thought it suited you."  
"This artifact suits me?"  
"Correct. A pactio artifact always reflects the traits and personality of the one possessing it." She said while striking an intellectual pose, "Your artifact, in short, is always very 'you'."  
"If they thought that an artifact that does absolutely nothing except put me into a cosplay outfit that is very 'me', then we have a problem." He honestly sounded annoyed.  
"Don't worry, it definitely does something. Pactios are never useless." said the horned woman that was now dragging him towards the center of the formation.  
"We can't wait to see what it does!" yelled Ffion and Paula in unison, waving at him from the distance.

"Are you ready?" She asked him.  
"Just one question, why do you wear such outlandish clothing?"  
"Because I think it's practical. Above all else, I must avoid getting hit. Clothing and heavy armor restrict movement." She said in a repressed yet beautiful and elegant tone, much like one would expect of the royalty of legend. It looked like she'd failed to execute on that line of thought a few times though. Now that she was close he could clearly see large scars indicative of sword slashes and at least one that had to be the result of impalement on the uncovered parts of her body. They were in no way ugly to him. Indeed, in some perverse way, they served to augment her beauty. But that didn't change the facts…

"So you don't care that you're leaving very little to the imagination?"  
"Not really."  
"Are people like you common on your side?"  
"Not really, my kind are somewhat uncommon." She paused for a moment, "You know what you risk here. Are you prepared?"  
"Of course."  
"Alright then." She placed an earbud in his ear and with a sad look on her face blinked out of sight. "I hope you survive Alex."

A magic circle involving 'common' occult symbolism materialized. Crowlian unicursal hexagrams, ruinic letters inscribed within concentric circles, and other such things glowed beneath his feet with a crimson light, it slowly turned to silver. So this is what those two pints of blood and that bucket of tungsten carbide powder were for. Once the circle had expanded to the henges themselves, the circle he was standing in began to spin clockwise. The ruinic letters, however, began to spin counterclockwise. His sense of time was utterly shattered. Seconds, days, years, he could no longer tell, they all bled together. In one instant the ground was solid crimson-silver, the next, the magic circle was totally still. The world lost all rhythm, his senses were in absolute chaos.

"Don't be scared Aleph, I know that your boys on this side got it all wrong, but trust me, they were right about this particular ritual." Another new voiced sounded in his ear.  
"Itsuki right? They never made a ritual to instantly turn you from mere mortal to mid level magus, and I read things like 'The Book of the Law' cover to cover." Alex had to struggle to force a perception of time and order on his reeling mind and body.  
"I meant the symbols. Niven told me you love questions so I'll answer the one that's probably in your head. You think this won't to do anything, but he's been researching this stuff for decades. It'll work." He said.  
"I don't know where I am." He said. The chaos had subsided, but now he felt as though he was on his back in an ocean of waving water, yet he knew damn good and well he was standing upright on solid ground.  
"Don't trust your senses, if you break the circle now you're dead. Focus!"  
"Ok, I'm focusing."  
"You need to..." Static.

The gentile waves turned into a storm of needles. Pain wracked every part of his body. This was just like in the library, only here it wasn't just his head that was throbbing. He felt himself slam into hard ground, he was in the air this whole time? The pain got worse and worse with every second. Every pain receptor in his body was firing at full blast, it was so much that he couldn't even manage to scream. He should have passed out, but something kept him from doing so. Why?

After a few moments the pain stopped, but it was replaced by a pleasant but terrifying sensation. He could feel himself begin to disintegrate, his body was spreading out and scattering to the winds. "I'm sorry." Was the only thought he could call to the forefront of his mind. He was sure this was the end...

* * *

And that's the end of Chapter 7. Stay tuned, we ain't nowhere near the end of the story. There's still much more to go, hope you'll stick around.


	8. Desperation

Niven felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder, a large knife had plunged into him right in the middle of his incantation.

"No! Not now at this crucial moment!" he thought.  
"That's quite the impossible ritual you're performing there, 'Weaver'."

Niven, though he could barely manage, continued his incantation. He didn't even hear the voice behind him. He was so close to flawlessly executing it that it consumed all of his attention.

"I _said_," he launched himself at Niven, "that ritual is impossible!" He felt a foot connect with the backside of his skull. Halting his words and disrupting the grand magic The Great Weaver was attempting to complete.  
"No…" He reached forward, "Cipher!"

The magical energies he was manipulating began to go berserk, this was the worst case scenario he imagined. He could have aborted, but he was just fractions of seconds away from completion. He had compromised again. Put his selfish goals above the lives of others, first innocents, now the life of one of his friends. He should have aborted the instant his shoulder was impaled.

"Your friends, are getting a bit too closely acquainted with my friends, understand? Not sure how long the abhuman pansies'll last. I wouldn't give em' a minute, you?" He was being completely nonchalant, people were fighting for their lives and he couldn't care less.

"You bastard! Do you have any idea what you've just done! **Saggita Magica, Venti Tres Ventus**! (Magical Archery, 23 arrows of wind!) " He didn't say the incantation of course, instead activating the spell in his mind and launching it instantly with a flick of his wrist. But the arrows weren't fast enough. The entity had already disappeared. A split second later, he felt a foot plant itself firmly on his forehead. He was knocked prone.

"Did you really think you could do it? Did you think a worthless pieces of trash like you had any chance at all!"  
"I didn't think, I knew! In God all things are possible!" He responded.  
"That so? Too bad there is no God. Oh well, I guess it's time for the traaaash to burrrn!" He whipped out two knives and stabbed them right through Niven's wrists. He leaped up into the air and flicked a few more knives into each hand. He was just showing off now.

A pillar of blinding light prevented Niven from seeing what had happened to Alex. He wass dead, he had to be. And he was tragically about to join him.

**Boooooooommmm****m!**

Another beam of intense light connected with the entity's midsection, sending him flying about 30 feet before it exploded. The pillar of light became narrower and narrower, focusing on a human shape in the middle, until it disappeared.

"Owwwww!" The entity was on its feet and dusting itself off. From a distance, it looked human. "What the...Hehe, AHAHAHAHA! Ahhhh, So it seems that spell wasn't impossible after all! Telll me fateless! How does it feel to be more powerful than any other piece of trash on this planet?" Every syllable that escaped his lips dripped with unrestrained malice and condescension.

"What are you talking about?" Blood was flowing down his face as he bled through his clothes. He needed to be healed, badly.

"Hmmm? God you're dense you know that? Let me spell it out for ya, baka. I want to know if you like being able to slaughter a whole company of highly trained soldiers. I want to know if you love having the power to defy every tin pot dictator in existence." He hunched over and looked him in the eye, hands in his pockets. "Don't you like it? Doesn't it feel good to be able to kill most any waste of space in this world of lies!" The smile he sported on his pale face churned his stomach.

"No! I am not like that! I hate people like you with all my being!" He screamed with a hint of fear. Terrible memories flooded his mind. The complete loneliness, the absolute sorrow, the crushing despair he'd experienced all his life. The people that rejected his earnest pleas for companionship and understanding...deep down, didn't he really wish they would all just die?

He began an incantation labeled 'useless' by Niven. Rings of light as tall as he was formed above the backside of his hands. He crossed his arms, palms facing inwards. The rings fused together, forming a circle of light before him. He then inverted his hands and slashed at the circle before him as with invisible claws. **Impello Gravitas! **(Gravitic Drive!) He was drawn through the newly opened gate, propelling him towards his enemy at an impossible speed. He felt his fist connect with it's skull.

That head didn't react the way physics texts said it ought to. It ought to have simply exploded from an impact of that magnitude. Of course, his arm ought to have likewise disintegrated, and his body ought to have continued moving forward as though the man in front of him did not exist, yet none of this happened. Everything was wrong, but it didn't matter to him anymore.

"So much for the laws of physics." he thought.

Now he was flying slowly towards a staggering enemy. From up close, he looked like a rather unassuming middle aged man with wild bleach white hair (which was probably nice and tidy before he ate that beam), a suit and tie, and violet eyes. Was he an albino? No matter, he had to continue his pressure. He hit the ground running and punched him again, a distortion effect, like the one observed from viewing an object with a magnifying glass as it's slowly moved away, occurring at the point of impact. He kept on punching, the jewels losing their newfound brilliant white color with each blow, yet also creating the same distortion effect. He couldn't let his enemy recover, he had to destroy him here and now. He hit him again and again, a jab to the head, a blow to the midsection, a knee to the face, the same combo once more, and then a final haymaker that sent his enemy flying. He muttered an incantation, **Saggita Magica, Septendecim Obscuritas! **(Magical Archery, 17 Arrows of Darkness!)**  
**

Lightless orbs formed behind him, and fired in unison. Each beam struck its mark and exploded paradoxically, consuming light where they ought to have generated it. He then raised his right hand in front of his face and began to charge another blast, then a hand came down on his shoulder.

"Heh," He felt a fist impact his backside and was sent flying, he landed hard on his back and slid for a meter or two. He kicked his feet and recovered quickly. "You're pretty damn weak newbie!" He crouched down and made an insulting gesture "C'mon, show me what you're really capable of you fateless piece of trash!"

He moved faster than his eyes were able to track, but that didn't matter. Alex didn't have to track his movements, merely predict them. Any professional fighter will tell you that people give subtle hints to their next action if watched closely. Your opponent's body will tell you how, where and when he will try to hit you next. In his training in martial arts, he had developed and honed this skill to a science. He barely dodged the inhumanly fast blow, opening another bloody gash in his face. He countered with a grab and threw him as hard as he could into the air.

"It should be harder to pull the same trick once he's in the air" he thought, yet immediately he saw the signs of another attempt and sidestepped. Now his enemy was on his knees with both arms fully extended. A sitting duck. He reverse kicked his foe in the head, sending its face into the dirt. He raised his hand and fired another blast. Right as the beam met the enemy's head it disappeared. He felt something grab his arm. Alex was flung high into the air. A split second later a large plume of fire was heading right for him. He curled up and crossed his arms in front of his face. The fire rushed over him, but none of it actually touched him. The flames that would have incinerated him were instead sucked into the jewels on his hands, causing them to take on a more reddish hue. He prayed that his enemy hadn't moved, his mind shouted the name of the move that he had used just a few moments before as he tried to activate the spell in his heart.

**Impello Gravitas!**

His fist once more met face and caused a large directional explosion that sent his opponent flying towards the horizon. He charged another energy blast and fired. It hit home, but now the effect was different. Like a fusion of the standard explosion effect and the distortion effect he had observed at the beginning of the fight. After a moment the smoke cleared. He was surprised to see his opponent unphased as he drifted towards the ground.

"Ahhh, now that was much better." He was now on the ground walking towards him. "Aww damnit, it appears as though my friends have lost. Meh, I never liked them anyway." He said in a dismissive tone.  
"I'm not..." Alex said. He was barely able to stand, all of his extremities were shaking, "done yet!"  
"Yes. You. Are. In fact, you're already dead. Not even a good healer could save ya now." He shrugged his shoulders.  
"I won't...let you..." All the action had prevented his wounds from closing. He'd lost a lot of blood, too much blood to remain conscious. He passed out mid-sentence, falling face first into the dirt.  
"Oh well, looks like I'm stuck once again. Damn, if only you humans could manage to surprise me once in a while. It's all getting far too old." He took a knife out of his pocket and began twirling it.  
"Who do you work for demon? Tell me!" Niven had recovered during their exchange, and had used the time to gather somewhere around 300 orbs of light behind him.  
"I Can't. Terms of my binding. You understand don't you?"  
"Tell me damn you!"  
"No. Instead, I'll give your old ass a little hint. You're on the wrong planet! Hope you figure it all out, baaaka." He threw the knife at Niven's feet as he gave a flippant gesture. A flash of light erupted from beneath him and he was gone.

The rest of his entourage came running towards them. They had all clearly been in a desperate battle. They were to a man cut up, bruised, and bleeding. Cipher, however, was certainly the worst off. A pool of red was forming below his unconscious body.

"Oh no! Is he...ok?" Said Ffion with a tone of genuine concern showing through her exhaustion.  
"No, he's not. It's obvious he's lost too much blood. He'll die in a few minutes if we don't do something." Said Jason.  
"Anyone got type AB+ blood?" said Niven.  
"That's universal recipient! Anybody could give him blood and he'd be just fine!" Screamed Emiya.  
"Can't you just heal him?" said Mikoto bluntly.  
"I can close his wounds, but you can't just replicate blood on demand. His body won't produce enough in time to save him."  
"I brought a first aid kit with me." Emiya muttered an incantation, and a few seconds later a box flew into his hand. He opened it and frantically rummaged for a few seconds. "Yes! Blood Transfusion kit!"  
"Ok, who's going to hook their arm to Cipher's?" Asked Niven.  
"Me. They barely managed to touch me." Said Mikoto. She was surprisingly unharmed, save for a few cuts and bruises. She really should have noticed one very important thing was missing, but everyone was either too concerned about the man dying on the ground or too happy at this turn of events to tell her.  
"No! You're not human Inari it won't work! I'll do it. I have A+ blood, he can take it!" Said Emiya.  
"In this form I'm essentially human. Besides, you're all showing signs of anemia. If any of you try to give him a transfusion, you'll die. I'm the only one who can save him without dying myself."  
"Are you absolutely sure? Emiya, Sneck, or myself are the best options."  
"You'll die if you try! Please Niven, Let me try. Please believe in me." Her sincerity was obvious.  
"Alright, I'll put my faith in you and in God. Emiya, weave transmutation magic through the tubes, make her blood as close to human as it possibly can be." Said Niven. He pushed the needles into their arms. Magic circles formed around the tubes as dark red fluid began to drain from Inari and into Cipher. After about 10 minutes, color had returned to Cipher's face and he opened his eyes.

"Huh? How did I...?" His vision was blurry, but he knew the faces that hovered above him. "Thank God," he weakly moved his hands to touch their blurred faces to make sure they were real.

"You're insane, you know that?" Tears were flowing down her face, "What in the world made you think you could take on that monster!" said Ffion as she pounded her fist into his chest.  
"I had too...I thought he killed all of you. Someone had to...to avenge you." He felt pain in his right arm as he tried to move it. There were needles and a series of tubes linked to it. He followed those lines up to a bare chest, and then to a familiar face. He turned away.

"Mikoto is it?" He said drowsilly.  
"Yes?"  
"You do know that...your sarashi is gone...right?" She looked down and realized that her chest was showing. She quickly brought her arm up to cover herself.  
"And you were all planning on telling me this when?" though it was dark, everyone could tell her face was bright red.  
"I...uhhhh."Said Itsuki.  
"I just thought you finally decided to stop hiding that deceptively delicious chest of yours." said Paula.  
"Awww, I thought you just wanted to give them a little bit of fresh air!" said Jason.  
"Now you must understand Inari, saving my friend here was more important than your modesty." Said Niven, his face red and his eyes focused well below her face.  
"You...you friggin'..." One could see veins popping up on her forhead, lots of them. She tightly gripped the katana in her right hand. "PERVERTS!" in the blink of an eye, she unleashed a wave of force upon everyone but Alex, they were all sent flying into the air.  
"And I was spared because?" Though beet red, she looked right at him and said.  
"You were the only one looking away, this is my thanks", she lowered her sword, it's point stopping an inch short of his left eye, "Thank you, baka."  
"If you want, you can take my...whatever this cutout Cossack is called." He gripped the zipper and drew it downward.  
"Thank you, but I have a spare. Adeat!" A glowing, cross-hilted longsword materialized in her left hand. Her arms and legs were now decked out in plate similar to the type adorning his forearms and shins, only her's were pearl white and provided a full breastplate that covered her 'shame'.  
"Another artifact?"  
"It's from Niven."

"Ooooooh! The blood is flowing quite nicely. Do you two want to form another pactio?"  
"No!" They both said in unison.  
"Awww Damnit! I need another 100k for that new x-ray camcorder! C'mon, don't you guys want a new artifact?"  
"Isn't a pactio supposed to be something special?" Said Alex.  
"Says the man who let a girl he doesn't even know shove her tongue down his throat!"  
"I...I had no idea she was going to try that." He assumed a meekish posture, pushing his fingers together. "She was...It was..." his face was now beat red.  
"Ohhhh, so you like em' nice n' bouncey eh? Don't be ashamed, but don't be so narrow minded either! No matter what, Mikoto here does have an attractive body and a pretty face. Isn't complaining about her flat chest being a bit nit-picky?"  
"Paullllaaaa!" She grasped her sword, veins once again bulging about her forehead.  
"Ahhh, to die by your criminally seductive hands, an ermine spirit like me could scarcely hope to achieve such an end!"  
"So be it you perverted wench!" She slashed with her sword once more, a wave of pressure emanated from her pristine blade. Yet Paula jumped and dodged it perfectly.  
"Yahooooo! Too slow slut-chan!"  
Inari snapped. "Oh that's it. I'm going to murder you and sell your hide to a coat maker." She said in almost complete monotone with a blank look on her face. Her entire body began to glow in a pure light. There was no doubt she wanted blood. This turn of events surprised Alexander. Before she acted in a manner befitting royalty, yet now she acted in a crude and violent manner. This was probably her true self, but why hide it?

"Inari! Control yourself! Paula has always been our friend despite her eccentricities!" Yelled Niven.  
"But she deserves..." She was interrupted.  
"No! She does not! Deviant and perverted though she may be she is still a good person. We both owe her more than we wish to admit!"  
"That dirty old hag...she always did help people when she could didn't she?" Tonality returned to her voice. The pressure around her faded.  
"That's right Inari. Sinful as she is, there are good reasons why we trust her."  
"But to call me a slut." She raised her blade raised once more. "I just can't forgive her!" She threw her sword hand down to her waist, the pressure once more built up around her.  
"Oh c'mon Dragon Lady, I'd lose it if I didn't get to have fun every once in awhile."  
"I'm not a slut!" She pouted.  
"Ohhh-ho-ho-ho! Never got it on have ya? I guess that's understandable, given how confusingly prudish you are. Seriously, if you're so conservative, why do you leave so little to the imagination?"  
**"WHYYY YOU!"** She assumed an Iaijutsu stance, yet before she could lash out a single light arrow struck both of them right between the eyes.  
"E-NOUGH!" Yelled Niven, "There's no need for violence!"

"So what am I in your little scheme? I can figure out the role of these people, but if all you needed was another fighter you can just get a mercenary or two. And if you needed another scholar, there are likely better choices than myself." Asked Cipher.

"Ah, but _they_ aren't immune to illusions, memory wipe, and other such mind altering spells and effects." Responded Niven.

"So I'm just a trump card then?"  
"That's not a bad way of putting it."  
"You devious bastard."  
"Hehe, you always knew I was hiding something from you. What did you expect from me?"  
"You know, you're right. Still, you owe me Niven"  
"I know."  
"So what happens now?" Asked a cheerful Ffion.  
"Demons rarely lie outright. He said I'm on the wrong planet...We're heading for the gateport." Said Niven.  
"What is it you're searching for anyway." Asked Cipher.

"Information on this threat I've discovered. I only have a few bits and pieces now, in order to stop it I need more."  
"And that information isn't In the old world?" Said Emiya.  
"I don't know, I'm out of solid leads. But that demon just gave me one."  
"And just why would a bound demon want to help us? He just tried to kill us all!" yelled Mikoto.  
"I don't think so, rather, he was testing us. He wanted to know if we were strong enough."  
"Strong enough for what!"  
"Either to defeat his master, or fulfill the conditions of his release."

"So you intend to play right into the hands of a demon?" asked Cipher

"For now, it's all I can do. We all know a bound demon seeks his freedom above all else. If he's playing us, he's playing us with that end in mind." Said Niven.

"Ok you got us there. Still, you still haven't told me or anyone else what we're fighting against Niven."

"I will in time, now let's get moving."

* * *

Yay another chapter. There's going to be a few spoilers from here on out. I started writing this with the assumption that anyone reading fanfic of this series was already familiar with most of the manga, so if you aren't familiar, get familiar. It's good stuff, believe me (how else would it attract such a huge fanbase?)

Again, I love constructive criticisms and fanarts. If you do any of either, please inform me.


	9. Onward to a New World

The group had dispensed with the pleasantries of maintaining any form of a masquerade. Cipher was flying on a staff with Emiya while everyone else was riding brooms. Everyone except Jason, who was riding the wind on an Flying V. They were heading towards a small town hidden in the mountains, far from the prying eyes of mere mortals.

"We'll have to land and navigate the fog on foot while Niven deactivates the barriers that protect the gateport from outsiders. It only activates once a day, and by the time we get there it'll be too late. Gonna have to camp out for the night." Said Emiya in a conciliatory tone.  
"Oh, we'll make it time." Said Niven  
"How the hell so?" Said Inari, pointing to Niven's watch.

"Haven't you all noticed it by now?" Asked Niven, only to draw a dumbfounded looks from his audience. He sighed, "Cipher's ability obviously has an area of effect. If you get close enough to him, you feel weird. Yet so long as you feel that way, you'll have the same immunity he has. No illusion, no mind affecting spell will be able to touch you. We're pretty high up, if you get close enough to him, you'll see the gateport just as Emiya and Cipher do. We just land right inside the fog line and walk straight forward a few paces."

"Does that mean we'll get the same headaches he does?" Asked Ffion.  
"Probably, but it shouldn't be too bad. The protections are subtle, and most of the fog is real, though conjured. As we're not dealing with very powerful illusions and compulsion spells, the pain should be minimal."  
"Sure would be nice, but I don't see the..." he looked ahead and felt a slight pain well up in his left eyebrow, "Wha...that's not...how?"

They all gathered around Cipher, and all likewise incurred a slight headache. A stone spire and circles of stonehenges suddenly appeared in the middle of the sea of ultra-dense fog. They needed only dive down just behind 'the eye of the storm' to seem as though they had passed through the maze that ought to have bared their path. They landed at the fog's edge and walked into the middle of the formation.

Jason slammed into the ground and rolled to a stop "Ha! Made it with time to spare! I love that ability of yours errr..."  
"Alex. Hopefully that's easy enough for you to remember."  
"Right, right. Hey listen, will you be my wingman sometime? Lots of ladies like to use illusion magic to pretty themselves up."  
Alex put his hand to his head and shook it, "Friggin' libertine bastard. I'll pass."  
"Damn straight!" He produced a 40 of malt liquor and started chugging. "Still, if you ever change your mind, I'll give ya first pick!"  
He walked off and draped his arms around an obliging elderly woman. He was beyond his AoE, so she probably looked young and buxom in his eyes. He decided he wouldn't interfere. Age is made more apparent in speech and mannerisms than in physical appearance nowadays. If he was too tanked to notice these things, he deserved what he got.

"You know, Variens thinks it's all a big conspiracy." Emiya whispered into his ear.  
"A conspiracy?" Asked Alex.  
"He thinks the Megalomesembrian Senate wants to run both the old and magical world from the shadows."  
"No surprises there, but I doubt they can. Our bastards are more devious than yours. Plus, we got nukes, and I assume they don't."  
"Treachery, propaganda, and half-truths are far more effective than bullets and bombs when it comes to subjugating a population." He said in an intellectual tone  
"That's sadly true. So I take it you magic users aren't all knights of purity and justice."  
"No. There are evil people on both sides." He said sorrowfully.  
"Oh swell, nothing ever changes. No matter what, people never fail to live down to my expectations." He thought to himself in a condescending tone.

"Who's this Variens you speak of?" Alex said in hopes of changing the subject, "You called me 'Aleph' before, but you know that's not my name."  
"I like to amalgamate first and last names, it makes people sound more unique 3." Emiya said cheerfully.

They all conversed with themselves for the next 15 minutes. It had been some time since they were all in the same place, and they wanted to catch up. It was obvious that these people were very close to each other, that they had known each other for a very long time. What was freaky was that they spoke to Alexander in the same way, as though he was an old friend whom they'd wanted to see for so long, but just couldn't. He didn't expect this. He was supposed to be an outsider, yet they spoke to him like they had known him all their life. It was...strange, and good. Nobody except Scott and Niven ever spoke to him like that, not even the people that claimed to like him.

"One minute till it goes off!" Yelled Jason drunkenly, tossing an empty 40 to his side, "Awww yeah, back home to my Mesembrian hell-hole!" He threw his hands to his waist, his palms facing upwards.  
"You friggin'drunkie! Can't you restrain yourself even a little bit!" Yelled Inari.  
"I can, I just don't wana. Besides, Niven and Newbie are drunks too, why not yell at them a little?"  
"I heard that!" Yelled Alex and Niven in unison.  
"I meant it as a compliment. I respect *hic* people who can hold their liquor, and from what I heard, you two can put it away with the best of em'!"  
"And just how functional are you when inebriated?" asked Cipher.  
"Perfectly. In fact, booze actsually seems to make me better at whatevers it is I'm doing. I love booze!"  
"*sigh* That's just not right." He responded  
"10 Seconds,Wooooh!" Yelled Jason. People were starting to look, but once they saw the bottle in his hand, they stopped caring.

A series of enormous magical circles appeared above their heads, hexagrams and octagrams that were surrounded by several concentric circles containing the alphabets of long forgotten languages. A pillar of light not dissimilar from the one that engulfed Alex when he was almost disintegrated formed around them. Soon their vision was consumed, transfigured into pure white. They felt as though they were falling, but the sensation lasted only for a moment. The sea of white cleared, revealing a gigantic room of which the Stonehenge they were standing in comprised but a small part.


	10. This Isn't Like the Stories I've Heard

This scene was completely alien to Alex. It was many things, but this was in no way the high fantasy schizo tech world he had expected. The gateport itself was housed inside of a very large building. There were several large platforms supported by tall pillars that were nowhere near wide enough to support them. Of course, the rings surrounding said pillars were likely emitting a kind of magical force field that kept them from collapsing under their own weight. But still…

"Too advanced," He stated bluntly, "This world didn't develop in total isolation from mine; you bastards have been cribbing off of us right from the start haven't you?"  
"Sadly, yes. We owe so much more to the old world's advancements in scientific theory than we care to admit. For instance, the _entire_ school of gravity magic may not have come into existence were it not for the efforts of Sir Issac Newton and his theoretical descendants…" Stated Niven.

"Fun fact Niven, the esteemed physicist's greatest dream was to become a mage." This was all so infuriating to him for some reason.  
"Huh? You mean scientists really want to be mages?" Asked Ffion.  
"Yes and no." He responded.  
"Can I meet one then? I've only seen a half-scientist myself."  
"She's a full scientist baka! She just happens to use magic as well." Said Inari.

"Sure why not, I happen to know a few." Said Alexander, ignoring Inari's comment.  
"Eeeeee!" squealed Ffion as she glomped him hard. Emiya and Inari quickly grabbed her and pried her off of him. Alex didn't do anything to help them. He was secretly enjoying her affections.

As he walked up to the observation platform another impossible sight confronted him, only this time it didn't cause his brains to claw at the insides of his skull.

It was a cityscape that could accurately be described as Ancient Rome as built with modern tech and magic. Circular skyscrapers with domed ceilings supported by pillars, Aqueduct-like structures, natural stone pillars topped with private villas, modern bridges, all with fish and whales of artificial metallic construction flying high above. And what appeared to be a memorial statue right outside the window. It was this statue that caught his attention.

"That is a statue of Ameteru and her most trusted guardian, who also happened to be her lover." Began Inari in the same regal and graceful tone she had used with him at Stonehenge, "She was the first queen of the Osetian line, and her relationship with the man kneeling behind here became the basis of the modern pactio system. The mage stays back and supports their guardians, who do whatever it takes to ensure the mage never comes to any harm."  
"Like how the left tackle guards a quarterback."  
"Exactly." She responded ignorantly, "Remember, you made a contract with Ffion, make sure you protect her. If she dies, your artifact will cease to exist."  
"I'll protect everyone, I won't lose any of you."  
She looked into his eyes,"Even if letting one of us die would save the rest?"  
"If it comes down to that, I'll sacrifice myself. Only two people in the whole world who would truly mourn my passing." She gave him a dirty look and slapped him in the face, hard.

"Baka, you have no right to feel that way!" She yelled.  
"It's not about how I feel, it's about logic." he said while touching the bright red imprint of her hand.  
"I don't like your so-called logic, find another way."  
"And you care because…."

Inari looked at the ground and said in a sorrowful tone, "Because nobody should view themselves as expendable."  
"Fine, if it comes down to that, I promise I'll find a way to save everyone, myself included."

She looked in his eyes and smiled, "I'm glad you're capable of seeing things clearly. Sacrificing yourself is the same as giving up. I hate people like that."

"Then we have something in common." He responded. She smiled slightly, then walked away.  
"What was that all about?" he thought.

As he turned around he saw something that made his heart stop. The demon he had fought at Stonehenge was right there with a briefcase in his right hand, conversing with a clerk as he discreetly handed her a small sack. He almost summoned his artifact before restraining himself.

"If I cause a scene we'll be hauled off to jail, and if they discover that we used Stonehenge..." An image of all of them turned into ermines flashed into his mind. They walked up to the counter. As he looked around he got a slight headache. Illusions. Even here people hide themselves. Niven approached the clerk.

"Hello." A strange look came over her face for an instant, then she closed her eyes and smiled cheerfully. "You know the law, all of you hand over your pactio cards and any other weapons you may be carrying."  
They complied, she put all of their gear into a small wooden box that certainly couldn't hold it all.  
"A real life box of holding. Impressive, I'll have to get Scott one of those." Thought Alex.

They exited the gateport and headed for the slums.  
"Crack that thing open, I'm feeling a bit naked." Ordered Inari.  
"That's because you almost are." Responded Paula.  
"Pauulllaaaaaa…" She reached for the sword that wasn't there.  
"Ok ok, I get it. No more talking for awhile right?"  
"Good."

Sneck polished off a beer "No way I'm opening this thing until we're near the shuttle, it's a new model so I don't know how to crack it without setting off the alar…"  
"What is it?" Asked Niven.

Jason opened the box.

"What the hell? It wasn't sealed. And the alarm's…deactivated?"  
"You got an aircraft waiting for us right?" Asked Alex urgently.  
"Sure do! It's a custom job by Koiruda." Said Emiya, "You'll like it."  
"Who's Koiruda?"  
"A scientist who got kicked out of academia for her beliefs. She was constantly agitating for the revelation of magic to the old world."  
"Why?"  
"You know hard it is to find someone who's even heard of the Euler-Lagrange point equation on this side?"  
"Hard to find them on my side too."  
"Yes, but a good number of those people also know it's mathematical proof, it's history, it's applications, and much more!" He smiled.  
"In other words, she wants to work with died in the wool scientists, not mages with some passing interest and maybe a few intro courses on the subject."  
"Exactly."

He suddenly incurred a slight headache. So the craft was supposed to be disguised or cloaked. It was large, but not as large as the ships overhead. It looked kind of like a manta ray, but it certainly wasn't that model. It was more geometric, and sported four very obvious thrusters in place of a tail.

"Faster than the most decked out manta class airships. This baby'll get you in and out of dodge before the pigs even get the slightest idea you're there!" Boasted Jason.  
"Good, let's fire it up and get out of here." Said Alex.

They all ran up the ramp into the interior of the ship. It was well lit and spacious, but there were no windows save for the ones in the angular cockpit. It was obvious that this thing was primarily meant to haul cargo, which made perfect sense given Jason's 'profession'.

"Fire it up!" Yelled Mikoto.  
"Aye aye washboard!" said Paula as she slammed her paws on a few buttons. Inari began to reach for her sword, but restrained herself.  
"Hey newbie, wanna see something really cool?"

"No, I don't."  
"Well too bad, I'm the captain and I say we do the cool thing!"  
"Is he always like this?"  
"Only when he's drunk." Said Emiya

"Yeah, sure." Alex said the next sentence under his breath, "Bet you haven't ever seen him sober."  
"Happens about three times a week, gotta get his stuff in order and plan smuggling routes." Responded Emiya.  
"Are you even human?"  
"I think so, I'm not a Mesembrian citizen, but I certainly look human and I don't have an alt form like Fise and Minari. So yeah..."  
"Ok ok, I get it." He said while making a mental note, "Don't say anything you don't want broadcast in Itsuki's presence."

There was a loud humming sound and a flash of light. They were teleported about five thousand meters up in the sky. He then realized that the thrusters were inactive. They began to fall.

"You might want to turn on the engines Sneck." Said Alex.  
"I'm getting to it!" He yelled.

Motes of light were being drawn into the engine for a moment, followed by a lound explosion as everyone was pinned to their chairs. They had to be going above Mach 3 now.

"What the hell! This thing can go toe to toe with an SR-71?" he thought. But a Blackbird wasn't plummeting to the ground while achieving these speeds. After falling for about 30 seconds he asked a pertinent question,  
"Does this thing even fly?"

"In a minute damnit! God you're a pussy!" Responded Sneck.

The speed of their fall as well as the craft itself slowed as time progressed. Until, at about 1000 meters, they had slowed to cruising speed and began climbing up to a more suitable altitude.

"And _THAT_, ladies and gentlemen, is how you shake the pigs."  
"Oh yes, and I suppose the sonic boom doesn't bother the locals all that much now does it?" Asked Emiya.  
"Hey, after a run where I do that, I could repair all their windows and buy em' a round at the local bar to boot!"  
"But we're not on a run, so why do it now?" Asked Cipher.

"Because they're on to us. Somebody bribed her and I don't know who. When stuff like that happens you can be pretty sure you're being set up, but I bet whoever did this wasn't expecting that little stunt. Try and track me now ya bastards!" Sneck put the craft on auto-pilot and produced what looked like a laptop and began typing.

"Yo Tsuruda, how's it going?" he typed. His avatar resembling a man holding a heart shaped grenade banging his head whilst throwing the horns. The responding avatar looked like a cackling mad scientist with shining glasses obscuring their eyes.

"Just finished that pistol SunnyNight requested and sold a shadow purging artifact for twice what I paid for it. You?"  
"I'm hauling that guy Niven keeps talking about."  
"You mean the guy who's immune to _all _mind affecting spells, _period_?"  
"Yeah."  
"Get him to my lab ASAP, I need to study him! **NOW!**"  
"Woahwoahwoah, don't get your panties in a bunch." He started to type more when he got interrupted by a text dump a split second later.

"Do you have any idea how rare an ability like that is! It's rarer than magic cancel and in some circumstances it may be even more powerful! To actually think I may actually get a chance to study such an ability in a scientific manner. It's beyond my imagining! So yes, I _will_ get them in a bunch. And if you don't bring him to me, I'll hunt you down and use you as a test subject as punishment for keeping such a wonderful specimen from me!"

"Look, I was heading there already."  
"What have you done this time?"  
"Nothing, but the box for our gear wasn't sealed by the clerk at the gateport. It doesn't pass the smell test. Somebody's on to me, us. We gotta hide for a few weeks, or at least until we confirm this is all just a big misunderstanding."  
"You mean Niven and the others are with you too?"  
"Yeah, we're all on the Wings of Injustice atm, used the cop duster to make sure they couldn't follow."  
"I like and/or respect the others, but I will not go to jail or be turned into an ermine for an alchie smuggler like you if I can avoid it, you'll need more than just him if _you_ want my protection."  
"He got an extremely rare artifact from his Pactio with Ffion, Crimson type."  
"My my, that _is _interesting. You've piqued my interest. What's it do?"  
"No idea, but it's Crimson level, so it has to be really freaky and insanely powerful."  
"Ok, that's more than enough. Find some way let me study both him and that artifact and I'll hide you for as long as you want."  
"You've got a deal. BTW, this twerp'll agree to most anything if you answer his questions."  
"What kind of questions?"  
"The easy ones. He's 100% old worlder. His trust in Niven is shaken and he don't much know nor trust the rest of us. Make it obvious that all you want is knowledge, and he'll spill the proverbial beans."  
"You're almost as devious and manipulative as Sunny, _almost_."  
"So are those traits the key to your pants?"  
"Say something like that again and nothing you have to offer will save you from a lifetime of experimentation. And not just the normal stuff, I'm talking about things that would make Mengele cringe, understand?"  
"You know I like to tease when I'm drunk, be there in a few hours."  
"You better hope so, the more I read that comment, the more I want to kill you. Hurry u-uup :3."

The both signed off. Jason viewed the time on his watch.

"Ah, it's almost time for Vajra's shift." Said Jason. He grabbed a nob on the dashboard and tuned it. A deep voice emanated from the speakers that had to be somewhere inside the ship.

"...And this is Furry Fury signin' off. Up next is a very close and dear friend of mine. Vajra Sunnynight. I'll see all of you tomorrow. And remember listeners, love your fellow man, or wolf-man, in my case, owwwwww! A few minutes of commercials went by. Then...

*Epic Guitar Solo* "Coming to you live from an undisclosed location. The bringer of the bad news and badasss music _they_ don't want you to hear. Vajra. Sunnyniiiight!"

"Awww yeah, ya'll know what time it is, it's time for me, Vajra, to bring you the _bad_ news with a bit of bad_ass_ music on the side to help ya wash it down. Lot's of things goin' on today people. First, let me remind ya'll that today is the official anniversary of Nagi Springfield's legendary warp attack that turned the tide of the great war in favor of Mesembria. Now, you all know I love Nagi, I'm a member of his fanclub after all. That's because he was a good man who had his priorities one hundred percent straight. He did whatever it took for the people he loved, including the princess Arika Anarchia Entheophysia. Huh? You mean the great hero was in love with the Queen of Calamity? You damn right he was! And hell, I love her too. Now, you may be asking yourselves, 'Vajra, how can you love a girl like the Queen of Calamity?' The answer is very simple children, she was no such thing."

"If you didn't already know, The Queen of Calamity is_ court_ history. That is, false state-sponsored BS pumped to your brain via free, quote unquote, public schooling. _Real_ history, ladies and gentlemen, is that she was a wonderful person who was always lookin' out for da' common man. You can check my blog at Mahou dot En Dubyah Awesome Dot Net, for articles and research into this and all sorts of other things they don't want you to know.  
Moving on…hoo boy it's been awhile since I've been able to do this segment. I am happy to bring you another addition ooof..."

A sound clip played; "Oh. No. You. DIDN'T!" It was definitely Furry Fury in his deep voice that performed it.

"God that's gonna be a badass song someday. But anyway, it seems that mere hours ago a group of people who I happen to know used the old world location known as Stonehenge to do...something. Now, cuz' those puritan tyrants be listenin' in to my broadcast, I won't tell you who they are or how I know em', but I can tell you that I possess incriminating photos of them. Now, as I've said a billion times, if I have em', the pigs definitely have em'."

"Sadly since this is radio you can't see them, so I'll post it on my blog during the next break. Picture's a bit blurry so if they keep a low profile they may be able to walk about in public. Again, I have no idea what they were doing, but I'm damn sure it they 'forgot' to get the permit. Pulling something like that is five to ten years in a deep dark cell with only rats for company. So I raise my shot glass to these heroes and to a-l-l you hardcore individuals out there who live their lives giving the establishment both your big fat fingers. And now, a song I think speaks to their current situation. This iis Sound…of Da Police!"

"Hell yeah, I love this song!" Said Jason, He produced a fifth of spiced rum and started to chug.  
"Where are we headed?" Asked Alex.  
"Ariadne. Koine has a hidden base there, she'll hide us for the time being. Wana hit?"  
"No thanks."  
"Eh, your loss." He took another swig.

Alex turned to Niven.

"I saw something at the gateport. Tell me, why was that young girl wearing a slave collar?"  
"Wearing a what?" he asked, obviously trying to cover something up.  
"Don't play dumb with me old man, I've read and watched enough science fiction to know a slave collar when I see one."  
"You picked up on that? Damn you're good!" said Jason drunkenly.  
"It's because of the war." Said Inari.  
"A war? Here?" Asked Alex.  
"Yes, even here, there was a great war where thousands died needlessly." She said.  
"Were you involved Niven?"  
"Yes, I fought on the side of Mesembria."  
"Tell me, how many confirmed kills did you rack up? The power you possess now, I can only imagine the demonic beast you must have been when you were younger."  
"I. Killed. NOONE! I saved them! Both friend and foe alike! I saved as many as I could!" Niven yelled as he slammed his fist into the armrest. The memories of war threatening to overtake him.  
"I'm sorry. I went too far, forgive me."

"No, it's all right." He took a deep breath, "I never killed directly, but the men and women I healed surely did. I was a party to the deaths of many on both sides. I do wonder sometimes, if more lives would have been spared if I had let a few of them die… But such thoughts are meaningless, only God knows the answer to those queries. And I shall soon meet him."

"Don't say things like that!" Said Emiya.  
"It's not like I'm getting any younger you know."  
"Yeah but, I swear you've still got at least 10, at least 20 more years to go. That's not soon right?"  
"When you've lived as long as I have, even centuries begin to bleed together."

Paula slapped him with her paw, "You haven't even lived one hundred years yet!"  
"Age and experience are relative Paula. I don't have to live centuries to feel and act as though I have."  
"What are you saying?"

"5 years to you is like a hundred to us humans. In my experience, all sentient races mature in accordance to their relative age. That is, if you compensate for everyone's average lifespan, we all achieve emotional maturity at about the same time. For instance, you ermines live and die in such a short timespan, yet that doesn't stop you from experiencing every stage in life's way."

"I guess you're right." She conceded, shrugging her shoulders.

They cruised for the next few hours, listening to Vajra's show. It was interesting to say the least, a fusion of talk and music radio. He would go on a long stretch of narrative expositions before embarking on an equally long stretch of nothing but music. The music front was the most fascinating. This Vajra had no boundaries. He was a total omnivore. All music, from all sources, garnered his affection. It was…refreshing. Alex had never heard a program like this, and lamented that there were none like it in his world.

"Almost there." Said Jason, he hadn't hit the bottle since he polished off that fifth and was now almost completely sober. They were over a large forest, but a city could be seen in the distance.  
"I don't see it." Said Cipher.  
"You're not supposed to, wouldn't be much of a hideout if you could." Responded Sneck.  
"Why would she need a hideout?"  
"She's a scientist."  
"A real scientist? Like a Physicist or a Biologist?"  
"Yeah, only she combines those disciplines with magic. She used to be well respected in academia and the magic R&D community, up until a few years ago."

"What happened?"

"She crashed a conference and managed to steal the identity of the keynote speaker. Once she had the podium she let loose. She admonished all of them for refusing to put more effort into scientific understandings of magical phenomenon. Now, all this by itself wouldn't have been much. Hell, the speaker she deviously replaced had planned on saying something similar. It was what she said afterwards that landed her in the lion's den."

"I think I already know what she did. But tell me anyway Jason. I want to make sure."

"She said that the concealment of magic from the people in the old world was not only morally wrong but moronic and self-serving to boot. She said that the magister magi system, which is something of a…" He paused and struggled for a moment to come up with an analogy that he thought Alex would understand, "sa-cred cow to those of us who live here, is nothing more than a sick joke we maintain to assauge our collective consciences as we brutally rape the minds of those few great individuals who dare to defy them and work towards revelation in spite of their threats and the overwhelming power they possess to back them up."

"Then I was right. Damn. Still, you liked her tirade correct?"

"You're damn right I did. She spoke the truth. But more than that, her _delivery _of that truth. Not even the legendary Mesembrian senators could hope to match it. You could tell that every last sylable came from her heart. You could feel her pain, her outrage, her unrestrained hatred towards everyone in that conference hall. And the empathy she felt towards people like you. It was all so…" A strange expression came over his face, it was hard to describe. Sadness? No, Lust? Yearning? It all bled together. "Beautiful."

"You couldn't have been there. Is it on the net or something?"  
"It's all over the blogosphere. I've tried posting it on MahouTube, but they took it down shortly after it was posted. Most people flame it." He said sadly.  
"Heh, our worlds mirror each other Mr. Sneck. Truth is reviled, lies exalted."  
"Damn, you really are alright." He tossed him a bottle of expensive beer, "That's some of my best shit. Drink up, you deserve it."  
"Thanks drunkie."  
"You're welcome."

The craft slowly descended into a clearing. They disembarked.

"This way, this way!" Said Ffion as she jumped up and down.  
They followed her until they were about a kilometer from the clearing. Then she turned around and smiled.  
"Here it is!" She said cheerfully.

It was a cheap, run down shack covered in vines. You'd never see it from the air that was for sure. It looked like it had been abandoned for years.

"That you Ffion?" Said a distorted voice.  
"Yes. Can you send up the lift for us?"  
"Alright, here it comes."

They heard the sound of large gears turning.

"*LUR-CHIK* *Click*" The shack's door opened, revealing a large freight elevator.

"Get in." Said the voice. They obliged. Shortly afterward they began their long descent.  
"How do you keep something like this a secret?" Alex thought.


	11. Lair of the Outcast Maven

The elevator stopped a few minutes later. They had to be at least a hundred meters underground. A series of blast doors began to open before them.

"Welcome Anomaly, I am Koine."

She extended an arm and bowed like circus performer. She had black hair with matching cat ears and tail, brown eyes, a bone pale complexion you only get if you haven't been outside in months, and a lab coat over a cheap wife beater and blue jeans.

"And I've been very, very anxious to meet you." She looked at him coldly, as though she regarded him as a mere object.

"Adeat." The jewels and outfit materializing as he said the word.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she tilted her head.

"I am not your lab rat cat girl."

"A cat, girl? Hehe, so is that what the average Earther would call me?" she said playfully, wagging her tail.

"Not sure, but that is what the average otaku would say you are and I have little reason to dispute their classification."

"Very well then, I'm a cat girl," She put her arms around him, his head once more ending up between a pair of boobs. Average size perhaps, but still nice and soft. "and you are the most interesting anomaly I've ever held in my arms." She closed her eyes, "Hmmm, yes. So this is the repulsive instinct you instill in others. It's not as strong as I thought, but maybe that's because you're physically attractive despite your stature and age."

"Stop it." He said bluntly.

It's not like he shouldn't have enjoyed it as he did with Ffion, but despite the fact that he loved what she had done in the past, there was something about her he didn't like.

"Ok." She backed off.

"Koine, it's been awhile. How are things?" Asked Niven.

"Ugh, I'm at an impasse. I need more information on this thing you're so worried about, but you can't give me any!" She threw her arms up, "Do you know how frustrating that is!"

"I have a bit of a lead, you can stop researching the old world."

"Why?"

"It's a bit of a long story. Let's just say a bound demon told me it was here."

"'It can't be here and you know that."

"Ah, but the next clue can."

"What is 'it' anyway?" interjected Cipher.

"A sin beyond comprehension." Responded Niven.

"Not good enough Niven. I almost died back at Stonehenge. I deserve more than that."

"You'll get it, once I'm absolutely certain."

"This mad scientist seems certain enough." he said bluntly.

She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "Oh let the baby have its bottle Niven. Listen Anomaly, I've been led to believe you're pretty intelligent, so you should already know the truth. Think really, really hard about it. It's simply the only logical explanation. If the magic found in high fantasy novels really exists, and has existed since time immemorial, how did the world come to be as it is today?"

Alex had been asking himself that question ever since Niven's confession. Since magic is overt, it, like science, _had_ to be common knowledge at some point.  
Now, people in all areas of the world can and have forgotten about a great many things. But written records containing some lost knowledge have always managed to survive.

And even if that weren't the case, the masses always knew the most basic of basic things. People (the ones that survived societal collapse, that is) never forgot how to make a fire, grow crops, build a shelter, and so on. Such individuals would never have forgotten a cantrip like "Ardescat" or "Saggita Magica", especially given their undeniable applicability in everyday life or self-defense…unless…

"They cast a forgetfulness spell on every living soul on the planet. Wiping their minds completely clean." Said the anomaly.

"See? I didn't even have to tell him directly. You were right Ianaset, he is smart."

"You'll have to forgive me if I tell you that my answer is impossible."

"Listen Anomaly…" She was instantly interrupted.

"My name is Alexander Cipher." He said.

"Ok ok. As you know, Albert Einstein himself said that if you had infinite energy you could do just about anything. Sadly, obtaining said infinite energy really _is_ impossible. However, it wouldn't take infinite energy to illuminate every corner of the Earth, now would it? That's all you have to do, metaphorically speaking, to wipe every mind on said Earth clean. After that you simply pray that they don't somehow rediscover whatever it was you wanted them to forget. If they do, you just fire again and again until it all finally works out. Eventually they won't rediscover magic on one of your attempts and thus direct their energies towards other things like science or philosophy. Oh if only one as you existed then ano, I mean Alex. The knowledge that may have been retained, ohhhhhh-oh…."Koine was swooning in her own arms, her cheeks bright red.

A sense of existential terror filled Alex's heart. His theory was certainly logical, but his mind refused to accept it. To have actually purged all but a chosen few's memory everything they ever knew, of everyone and everything they ever loved…It was just too terrible, no matter the reasons that popped into his head that could possibly justify such an action.

"Is all of this really possible?" Asked Cipher

"Yes. And not only that, I think it actually happened. On the _first itteration _no less. Even the Holy Bible has a story that reflects these events almost perfectly. That is the great sin, everyone. The erasure of self, the purging of both sad and happy memory alike. Of all hate, of all love, of all knowledge…"

"The re-setting of humanity." Said Mikoto.

"Sensei, why have you been hiding this from us?" asked Emiya earnestly.

"Oh no, oh no ho no ohnoohnohonooooo!" Said Ffion, shaking her head from side to side.

Jason Sneck pulled out a fifth of 190 proof liquor and started pouring shots. "Oh fuck my session of planning and sobriety, we _all_ need to get shitfaced _right fucking now_."

"I'm with you Sneck. Hit me up. Hit me up as hard as you can." Said Alexander, Jason poured him two shots in response.

"Remember to tell me my name if it all goes to hell will yah?"

"Gladly, if I survive. I almost lost consciousness in the deepest basement of Mahora's library. A spell of that magnitude might just cause my skull to pop like an overripe cherry."

"That's quite impossible Anomaly. It'll hurt more than the Spanish Inquisition, but you'll definitely survive." Responded Koine.

"Oh great, that's a really comforting thought. 'Sure, you won't die, but you'll wish you had.' Is essentially what you just said. Sound comforting?" Alex said in his standard, emotionless tone.

"It actually is, gotta count the few blessings serfs like us have ya know?" Said a new voice.

"Vajra!" Yelled Koine, her cold voice instantly melting into a tone of warmth and affection.

"I've finally perfected my auto-summoning spell!" She said as she rubbed her head against his

"Easy, easy!"

"I missed you soooo much, hold me tightly…" He did as he was told. wrapping his arms around her tenderly with eyes closed.

"What the hell! Is this even the same person!" thought Alex. Then he recognized his voice, "Wait, you're that guy from the radio, right?"

"Opposites' attract don't they?" Said Vajra as he opened eyes, they were a really bright, almost unnatural, blue. Other than that he looked pretty average, save for his dark tan and facial tatoos. A vertical line through his left eye, and a sun with his right as the core.

"But she's…" he was interrupted.

"The most beautiful, most energetic, most tender and loving individual I've ever met." Responded Vajra.

"No, she's not." He responded bluntly.

"I know she doesn't really show it, but she cares about everybody even remotely close to her. Would I fall for a heartless doll?" Vajra asked.

"Beauty trumps a man's principles 99 times out of a hundred, I have no reason to assume you're any different." Said Alex.

"Hahaha, now that was just plain mean. You're way darker than I thought you'd be. Still, Niven really likes you, so you must be one of the good guys. I'll let it slide. Oh by the way, were you the one in the middle of this photograph?"He tossed him a copy of the photo he spoke of on the radio.

"And what if I was?"

He clapped his hands for a moment, "I love people like you guys. I mean, I loved you all before, but now I _really _love you guys. No fear, no consent, just doing what you feel is right. Still, all of us in the same place can't be a coincidence. Can you tell me what we're doing?"

"We're going to attempt to destroy that array I told you about..." Koine started to pant as she looked longingly into his eyes. Vajra responded by kissing her deeply. Emiya and Niven started to blush, Jason was giving the thumbs up, Ffion's tails started to wag as she looked on while Inari and Alex turned away.

"Ok, let me try and put this together," said Emiya, "In ancient times all of humanity's memory was erased by a group of extremely powerful mages so everyone but them would forget about magic. Those few created the mundus magicus while they left the rest of humanity to rot. However, those on this side felt sorry for those left behind. So, they started the magister magi system so that they could help the people they left behind and thus assuage their guilt. But the thing they built that allowed them to do this was never destroyed, merely forgotten. Thus, it still exists, and if someone else were ever to find out about it something really extremely super bad could happen…right?"

"See? If people think for themselves every answer they seek will fall into their hands." Said Koine.

"Ah true dat!" said Vajra.

"You are correct my apprentice. Which is why it must be destroyed." Said Hephesanes.

"Ok, so they reset humanity and got what they wanted. Why the hell would anyone want to reset it again?" Said Motoko.

"They, quote unquote, died a long time ago pettaneko." Said Paula, "But the array must have gathered a ginormous amount of magical energy since it was last used. And nobody said that all that power _has_ to be used to wipe everyone's memory."

"With that kind of power, almost anything is possible. You'd essentially be a god." said Alexander.

"Now do you see now why I kept this from you all? If anyone, good or evil, finds the array and uses it before we have a chance to destroy it...they..."

He couldn't adequately describe the visions in his brain, but his words and expressions inspired them in all the others. All the horrible things that may result from the most dire wishes of both good and evil men being forced upon the world. The Law of Unintended Consequences was inescapable unless you had total omniscience, something impossible for those bound to the physical realm. Nothing good could come of its use by mortal men.

But even if it all worked out, even if a truly good person did create a utopia, how could it be anything other than _their_ utopia, the expression of _their_ will, the actualization _their_ dreams, the attainment of _their_ happiness? What of the hopes and dreams of every other soul on the planet? Seen in this light, are not the wishes of both the saint and the sinner one and the same? These thoughts filled their minds, in turn filling them with an absolute fear of what the future may bring.

They all began to began to break down, except for Koine, Paual and Vajra.

"Get over yourselves!" They said in unison as they slapped the others as hard as they could.

"We just need to prepare for what we may have to do in order to accomplish our goals." Said Koine, "First, this anomaly needs to be trained in magic. Also, I'll need his artifact. It just doesn't look complete to me, and I've always wanted to work on a 'death bringer'." Said Koine, smiling.

"My name is Alexander, please try to refer to me as such." he said.

"I'll try."

"Listen, magic is all well and good, but I already know how to fight. Just give me some guns that can handle the pressures generated by magnum load tungsten carbide rounds and I can take care of the rest."

"And if you get disarmed?"

"I've trained in the martial arts, and I have a powerful artifact which is damn near impossible to get off of me in combat."

"You obviously have no idea the kind of forces we may have to fight." Responded Koine indignantly, "In the Mundus Magicus there exist entities that can level entire city blocks and melt mountains with a wave of their proverbial hand. There are beings that have a good chance of surviving a nuclear blast and creatures who dine on steel. I'm not saying you're not good, anomaly, I'm saying you're not nearly as good as you think you are. But you could be."

"And every minute we waste training me up is another minute that array continues to be a threat to everyone in my world!" he chopped the air in front of him, the thought of his son becoming a tabula rasa causing his emotions to show, "We should focus our efforts on finding that thing and destroying it ASAP!"

"What if it has security?" She asked.

"Then we just blast our way through! If brute force doesn't work, _you just aren't using enough!_" He responded without hesitation

"Ahh yes, brute force. A great solution to most any problem. But you're forgetting something. You see, to use brute force to solve a problem, you must first have enough 'force' to override any amount of 'defense' the opposing entity may possess."

She took a breath, "I'll give you an example you can understand. If you want to brute force your way into a heavily guarded military compound, you're going to need a lot more than just your skilled self. Since we know next to nothing about this array, brute force is all we have. If we all work together in perfect synchronicity we have a good deal, enough to hold off the likes of Nagi for a few minutes according to my calculations. But that's just not good enough. However, if you were fully trained, and the rest of us just a bit stronger, victory against such an opponent becomes a distant possibility. I assure you, if you can beat him, you can beat anything."

"Now now, I doubt we could take down The Thousand Master no matter how hard we tried. I mean, he took out the leader of Cosmo Entelecheia single handedly." Said Vajra as he waved his finger.

"He's not a god Sunny, he can die just like everyone else. Besides, that was a one on one battle. I was talking about all of us ganging up on him. 8 on 1 is very long odds if the 8 are competent." She said coldly.

"He took down an army…" he said before he was interrupted.

"Of weak, incompetent morons who were scared shitless of him!" She interrupted as she slapped him, "Don't be such a fanboy!"

"Alright alright, even Nagi has a limit I get it." Said Vajra in the tone every couple has heard before. She instantly embraced him.

"Good, I hate being like that with you!" She said right before kissed him on the cheek.

"So besides handing my artifact over, what else do you want?" Asked Cipher.

"I need you to master incantation-less casting and sword fighting."

"Sword fighting?" he tilted his head.

"It can't possibly hurt, and we _do_ have a master with us. It'd be a shame to let her talent go to waste."

"You mean Inari?" He guessed.

"Yes. She's actually quite famous, you should be honored to be her apprentice."

He turned to Mikoto, "You're famous?"

"Of Course! I was arena champion a few years back." She said proudly.

"Ahh yes, the 'bilateral bitch'. Most of her opponents needed to get their arms and legs sewn back on after they fought her." Said Vajra.

"I see. You were going for intimidation. A bit of a different approach than Musashi advocated, but I suppose it's still quite effective."

"Musashi?" she asked.

"Miyamoto Musashi. In "A Book of Five Rings' he told readers to go for the face whenever possible so that you would intimidate your opponent and get him to focus on defensive action, thus ceding the momentum of the battle to yourself."

"Was he a great swordsman?"

"Yes. He's considered to be the best that ever lived on my side." He responded.

"Hmph, then I guess what they say is true. Great minds think alike." She said elegantly.

"Then it's decided," said Niven, "We'll all teach him a few of our tricks while Me and Inari do most of the proper training," He took the shot, "agreed?"

"Jusht what I was thinkin'! , *hic*" said Jason. 5 shots of almost pure alcohol back to back will stick it to anybody.

"It is the most logical course of action." Said Koine as she indulged.

"Can't argue with that." Said Vajra as he gulped the shot Jason tossed him.

"About time someone cured him of his love of ballistics." Said Inari, shooting up.

"I don't know much, but I'll try my best." Said Emiya, tossing the shot aside when everyone wasn't looking and acting as though he drank it.

"Yay more time around Cipher more time around Cipher!" Said Ffion as she glomped him. Her breasts once more eveloping his head.

* * *

Well, that's the 11th chapter. If you read up to this point, good for you. You have more free time than I do :P


	12. Story of a Son

Alex was broken and bruised, Inari had beaten him to a pulp and he had barely managed to land a single hit on her. It was a good hit though, her nose was bleeding.

"Ok, you hit me. You win. What do you want to know?"

"Who makes your pants and skirts? That tail is a major obstacle to your particular brand of fashion."

"It is, but it's not like there isn't a demand. My kind is rare, but not so rare that there's no money in making clothes for us." She whispered to herself, "Now if only they'd find a way to make a comfortable pair of panties."

He read her lips and deciphered what she hid under her breath, "Wait, you mean your going co…" She slugged him hard in the face before he could finish that sentence.

"Other people aren't supposed to know that! Now make a revelation bigger than that one or I beat that memory out of you! You're not immune to amnesia through head trauma!"

"Ok, I have a son." He responded instantly and without emotion.

"No you don't, Niven would have told us that." She readied her bokken.

"I never told him." He responded bluntly.

"Why not?"

"I didn't know if I could trust him. Even now, I still don't."

"And you expect me to believe that you trust me more than him?"

"I don't, I just figured I'd stop hiding it now that we're all in the same boat and you're about to beat me to within an inch of my life if I don't one-up the revelation that you go commando in a mini-skirt. I've made some enemies in my life. I wanted to make sure nothing happened to him. You'd only know if you knew _exactly_ where to look. I got all the records of his existence I could deleted. I don't even claim him on my taxes. So he was pretty much safe so long as I kept my mouth shut."

"Not good enough." She put her bokken to his throat with a devilish grin on her face, "Tell me who she was."

"There was no 'she', I adopted him. If you'd like, I'll tell you the story."

"Alright," she sheathed her blades, "Tell me."

"Ok." He took a deep breath to gather his thoughts, "I wasn't always legit, in fact, most of my life I've been on the wrong side of the law. About 14 years ago a job went really far south. My friends, quote unquote, had abandoned me to save themselves and the pigs were hot on my tail. After being chased around for a few minutes I figured that I'd probably run out of gas before they did, and even then I just knew a helicopter was on its way. So I slammed the breaks and bailed out just as my car impacted the lead cruiser. He didn't see me bail because of that, none of the others did either. I rolled and slammed into an alley wall. I was somehow uninjured, so I ran as hard as I could until I hit a dead end. I climbed a ladder to the roof of one of the buildings and jumped from rooftop to rooftop. If they didn't know I bailed, they did by this point in time, but that stunt did enable me to lose them. Then I saw the helicopter coming in as a black speck on the horizon. I thought I was fucked till I saw an open dumpster to jump down into."

"How does this relate to your son?"

"I'm getting to that. Choppers can still see into alleyways, and I wasn't even a block away from my 'accident'. They'd check every dumpster, and find me cowering in the bottom of one of them. Regardless, I still had a bit of time before the chopper arrived. So I decided to do something stupid."

"Like what?"

"Knock on the nearest door and request to come in politely."

"What time was it when you did this."

"Sunset. So there were still a few other people on the street. I could have tried blending in with the crowd, but I was too full of adrenaline and fear to think of that."

"Never thought you'd be the type to lose it." She said.

"14 years is a long time Inari, I bet you were even more violent back in the day."

She smacked him on the head with her bokken. "Continue."

He rubbed the lump a second then did as he was told. "The first building I tried was a normal house. I knocked but there was no answer. Now I understood how dumb that move was, but I still wanted a roof over my head, the sound of that chopper overhead was like a bell tolling, heralding the imminent loss of what little freedom I still had. I saw a small, unassuming building about a block away. I wanted to run, but that might have given me away. So I walked as calmly as I could. As you can guess, it ended up being an orphanage."

"So that's how you met you son?" She asked.

"Yes, but it's a bit more complicated than that."

"No love at first sight right?"

"No, it was, but in a different way. If I may, I must assume the position of a first person narrator at this point. It's the only way I know how to tell this story."

"Alright, do your best."

He took a deep breath, and began:

I felt strange walking into this place. I saw a nun in a habit walking towards me. She asked me bluntly…

"Who are you?"

I have known the traditions of many religions since I was young, so I answered "One who seeks charity, and to give charity in return."

"Ah, what a wonderful line of crap. I bet you just robbed a bank!"

I didn't quite understand the last part thankfully. "I understand sister. Humans are such obstinate sinners. Still, I wish to think that I am not so far-gone as my brethren. I ask you, can I stay here for awhile and observe you and the children you so graciously shelter here?" I said as I bowed, trying to sound as humble as possible.

"Hmmm…," she seriously observed me for over a minute before telling me, "Ok, you seem earnest enough, we're a little short handed so I'll need you to help clean this place up."

"Alright."

She handed me a broom, dustpan, and mop and told me to get to it. Almost immediately after I started moping the floor a little brat about up to my knees came up to me.

"Yo, yakuza dude, you the one that robbed the bank just now?" That was one of the few times I was thankful that my emotions don't naturally surface.

"No, I'm not." I responded.

"Like hell you not, pigs are scouring the streets lookin' for a guy like you."

"Lots of guys like me, what makes you think I'm the one."

"I just get the feeling, you look the type."

I ignored him and continued cleaning.

"Hey don't worry about it, I hate snitches, so I won't tell anyone."

"You're starting to annoy me kid."

"Oh don't be like that dude, I just want someone to talk to."

"Get one of the sisters, it's their job."

"Yeah I know. But they're no fun at all! I have to live with them you see. So I have to be careful what I say to them."

"You don't look the type to really give two shits about what anyone thinks kid." I immediately replied.

"Scott, you can call me Scott."

"Weird last name."

"It's not, don't got one."

"Impossible."

"Well ok I do kinda have one, but it has no meaning, got no family left, and I can't really remember em', so it's pointless."

"Bullcrap, unless they left you at the foot of this joint you'd have know them."

"Ok ok I did kinda fabricate some of the above. Tell ya what, you adopt my sorry ass and I'll tell ya everything."

His way of speaking was rather strange, he sounded more like a teenager than a four year old. I found it intriguing.

"So how long you been here."

"Ah, now that's part of the 'true' story that I'm holding back on until you get me out of here."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Kind of. I mean, 3 hots and a cot for free is nothing to sneeze at, but I would really like some parents."

"You'd only get one with me."

"Eh, better than nothing. Besides, I'm getting this funny feeling when I'm around you," He closed his eyes and smiled brightly, "I just don't like you."

"And yet you want to come home with me." I was confused, why wish to be with someone you don't like?

"Yeah, you're interesting! See, I've never met a person like you before. I like everyone at first, then I find out they're like Nomura or Aoi and I stop liking them…but you I hate right from the start! So in time, I bet I'll end up loving you!" He looked like he wanted to be patted on the head for his absurd argument.

"You talk too much."

"Says the man using an orphanage as a makeshift safe house! How much you make off with?"

"Nothing, I'm not involved in any crime, nor have I ever been. Go ask a cop if you don't believe me." Of course, I didn't want him to, but the kid had all the cards and I had to keep my bluff going if I hoped to avoid free three by three living quarters for the next 30 years.

"Yeah yeah. You're telling me how you lost the pigs when you adopt me."

"You seem pretty damn sure I'm going to adopt you, why?"

"Cuz you're a nice thug!"

"Here's a tip you little yankee, this is _not_ the way to get adopted."

"Sure it is! Instead of acting, I'm being myself. I don't want a parent that hovers over me 24/7, and that kind of person wouldn't touch me with a thousand foot pole!" He said as he spread his arms.

"That doesn't negate my objection. I doubt anyone in the world would adopt you at this point."

"You will." He looked at me sweetly.

"Again with your unbacked presumptions! Are you trying to get me to adopt you so you'll shut the hell up!" I should have been angry, so I acted like it.

"That's plan B!"

"Grrrrrr…"

He was smart and devious, for a four year old anyway. I had to admit, I really was starting to like him for some reason. He was annoying as hell, but somehow the part of my mind responsible for making smart decisions was being shut down by his dichromatic blue-green eyes. They were weird, just like mine. He kept pestering me, asking me where I was from, what I knew, who I knew. It was all so annoying to me at the time, and even now he's still annoying, but the more he talked the more I lamented the fact he was all alone. He needed a parent, a friend. Or perhaps it was the absolute certainty he displayed in his assertion that I really was going to adopt him. They say if you believe in something hard enough your dream will become reality, and he certainly believed.

I came back to help at sunset for the next few days. I shouldn't have left my house for about a week, but I made the trips regardless. After the third day I started to relax. See, if they don't have a suspect by the third day, they'll probably never have one. I was in the clear, somehow, I'd pretty much gotten away with murder. Scott pestered me all the time, but never referenced adoption again until seventh day, when he suddenly asked…

"So, you decided to adopt me yet?" He made an effort to look as cute as possible, and he did.

"Quit nagging." I had.

"Oh come on! Half the kids are laughing at me, and the other half's worried you'll be in prison before the end of the month! Four days left to see how the other side lives, don't you wanna?"

"I said I didn't do it."

"Suuuuure ya didn't, gin man."

"What was that?"

He started to sing "He re-eeeeeks of gin! Giiin man! Giiiin man! Punched his wi-iiiife in the face. Giiin man! Giiin man! He robs the baaaaanks to-pay-for-his-booze. Giiin man! Giiin man!"

"Why you…"

"Hey, gin's a good drink, I don't blame ya."

"How the hell would you know!" I yelled.

"Part o' tha story mate," he said in a terrible aussie accent, "Take me home, and you'll know."

"I'll give you props on your first move, but you ruined the rest of your pitch. You've improved a bit, but you're still not going to get adopted until you properly learn to grab their hearts and wrench the hell out of them."

"No way, that's how Nomura's going about it, and I hate him! So I've decided to show him how it's done by doing it my way. The right way. I am always myself, I always ought to be myself. I have shown you who and what I truly am."

"I admire your philosophy Scott, but it still won't work." It was working, much as I hated to admit it.

"Yeah it will, one day, it will." It would today.

"I'm leaving, finish up for me would you?" I handed him the mop.

"Sure…hehehe…Hey Nomuuuuraaaaa…" As I walked away I heard a scream and the sound of little feet beating against the hardwood floor.

I went to mother superior and asked if I could adopt Scott.

"You mean…you're going to adopt that annoying little monster?" She asked.

"Aren't nuns supposed to be nice?" I asked in return, it was such a terrible thing to say about my son after all.

"I'm not glad you're taking him off our hands. No, I'm actually happy. So happy I can't…" Tears began to streak down her ancient face, "I can't describe it. I thought he'd be stuck here till' he was 18 because of his obstinance!" She hugged me, "Thank you, thank you so much!"

I filled out the paperwork and was told to come back in a week once they finished the background check. I kept coming in to help anyway, the sisters even offered to pay me something for my efforts, but I refused. I pay my debts, and they unwittingly sheltered me from the cops, this was the least I could do. Scott kept pestering me, only this time he was certain that I had already adopted him. Little bastard was pretty damn perceptive even at that young age. I kept saying I didn't of course, I wanted to surprise him as much as I could. Then the day came, a few tufts with the law showed, but nothing major or recent, so the sisters decided I was a fit parent and wanted me to tell him.

"So you taking me home yet?"

"I am. Right now in fact. Go get your things." Scott actually looked shocked.

"Wha?…"

"You heard me, get your things and get in the car Scott Cipher. I hope you like that moniker, because that is your name from this day forward. You're going to have to sleep on the couch until I can find a bigger place for cheap though."

He asked the nearby nuns "You're shitin' me. No way you actually adopted me. Right? Tell me ladies, is this guy serious?"

"Yes," said mother superior, "He checks out and has filled out the relevant paperwork. As of this moment, he is officially your adoptive father. Congratulations Scott, we're all so very happy for you."

He looked at the ground, tears began to fall from his eyes, "Hehehe, you know, I was acting the entire time…"

"What?" I was honestly shocked. If he really was acting, he was a damn good at it.

"About how you were going to, or already had…adopted me. I never thought you would *sniff* so I just put on a tough face and tried to have a little fun with you. But, deep down, I always hoped…" Tears were streaming down his beaming face, "I always hoped that you really actually would! I prayed to almighty God that I was right the entire time!" he ran at me and tackle hugged me as hard as he could. "Thank youuu! ! I never thought…I never thought I would ever…" I hugged him in return.

"It's ok." A single tear escaped my eyes. It was one of the few times that my emotions actually surfaced of their own accord, "let it out, holding things in is bad for your health you know."

"Ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaaaaaaaaa!" He cried his little heart out. The sisters soon joined in. It was like we were all trying to create a river of happiness.

It felt good, really good, to know that I was the source of this immense joy. This wasn't the first time I had seen people cry. I have made other people cry in fear, in pain, in hate, in despair, but to see and feel these tears of _joy_, to see the smiles on all their faces…it made me hate myself.

To think, that I had derived pleasure from the pain and suffering of others. That I got off on the fact I was ruining people's lives. Now I wanted to kill myself for ever delighting in those dark feelings. That sick sense of schadenfreude could _never_ compare to what I felt that day. This is what I sought for so long. This, above all else, was what was missing from my life the entire time.

All I had ever known was crime, how to commit it, how to profit from it, and how to get away with it. The only emotion I had ever known was hatred, how to nurture it, how to use it to escape the loneliness and pain I felt every day.

Now I had a new purpose. I could, I _would_ find another way. Even if I had to remain in the darkness until the last hours of my life to support him.._._ I swore at that moment that I would forevermore try to live in the world of light, of peace, of love.

For his sake, I would live in the world which I had scorned and hated for so long. If that path would allow me to see more smiling faces, faces that smiled not because I killed their adversaries or brought them bags of money… but because I was there for them, holding them in my arms, talking to them, helping them, doing whatever I could for them…I started to cry as hard as they were…and now I'm doing the same. Look at me! I'm crying again!

Hehehe *sniff*, this hardly ever happens you know…The few times I've done this, they are my most cherished memories. I wish I were like you and everyone else here, wearing their hearts on their shoulders…If only, I could be like all of you…*sniff*" He held his face in his hands, his tears dripping upon the dirt.

Inari hugged him, "Don't say that! You _are_ like us."

"No I'm not! *sniff* I feel, but my feelings are so distant to me, even in the depths of rapturous love and eternal hate I still have to choose what I show. I don't want to…I want…I want to show how I feel unconsciously and uncontrollably like everyone else!"

"You will one day. Please, stop crying. If you cry, you'll make me cry too."

"Inariiiiiii!" He screamed as he buried his head in her chest let loose a flood of tears.

"It's ok, I'm here for you, we're all here for you." She closed her eyes as she pressed his head into herself like a gentle mother, "We'll always be here for you."

His tears stopped a few moments later.

"Thank you." He said, his emotionless tone asserting itself once more.

"Don't mention it. Now, let's continue. Try forming a gravity well under my feet as I charge at you. Every time you fail you get another lump."

"I understand master."


	13. Mysteries Uncovered

It had been a few months since the end of the festival. Scott's relationship with Ai was going quite well. They had been spending a lot of time together and were very content with each other. In that time she had managed to convince him to join the Science club in full. He had served them as a kind of consultant in the past. That's how they first met, after all. The members liked his child-like obsession with scientific pursuits and his rather blunt manner of observation. He had a natch of picking up on the important things they tended to miss. Thus, they had come to see him as their personal "five-year old" as the evil overlord list would put it. It also helped that many of them held his utter contempt for regulation and administration. Rules, you see, tend to get in the way of progress.

Scott, sadly in Tomino's eyes, wasn't able to sell his soul to science as she had. He told her he'd already sold it to God. However, God never said anything bad about it, and Gregor Mendel, pretty much the father of genetics, was a religious order priest (you don't get more hardcore than that in the church). Thus, God loved science. So when Ai finally resorted to begging him to join, he agreed. Here was their exchange…

"Ok, I'm not a great scientist like the rest of you guys, but this means I'll get to spend more time with you right?"

"Yeah! You'll get unlimited access to the building, and by extension, me!"

"Alright, so long as I get to help you out." He closed his eyes and smiled.

"Hehe, are you that obsessed with me that you need to spend your every waking moment in my presence?" She asked as she assumed a playful pose.

"No, it's just," He looked away, blushing, "I want to see more of this side of you."

"You sure about that?" She got a scary look on her face, a face she made sure he saw.

"Damn sure," he responded without hesitation, "I want to see every side of you. I want to know who and what you truly are. Only then can I know for sure if I truly love you for who you are."

"So… You want to know what constitutes my soul," She looked into his eyes as she touched her chest, sporting the face of a mad scientist dreaming of what they're going to do with a juicy new test subject, "Right?"

"*gulp* Yes."

She checked to see if anyone was looking. Then, when she was sure they were alone, she draped her arms around him and moved her face but an inch from his, "Ok. I think I can do that."

She kissed him and smiled warmly. They held each other in silence for a long while afterward.

That was a few days ago. Now he was lying in his bed staring at the ceiling, thinking. He hadn't seen her in days with all the work they had to do for their classes and clubs. However, much as he tried to think about something else a snippet of his drunken conversation with his father just kept clawing away at the inside of his skull.

"Notice anything strange Scott?" Asked Alex.

"Aw hell yeah, they be larp'in Harry Potter, but the spells actually go off!"

The more he thought about it, the more certain he became of what he saw, and the more he remembered other little things that wouldn't normally catch anyone's attention. People acting exhausted in the middle of the day for no discernible reason, flickers out of the corners of his vision, the body language of certain professors… none of it passed the smell test.

And then there was the fact of his adoptive father. That just plan stank to high heaven! During the festival he always acted like he was anxious to leave him, a sentiment he had never displayed in all the years he had known him. Indeed, he always seemed sad that he had to leave his presence. And when that anxiousness overwhelmed him, when he suddenly left him... Why? Without even bothering to change into more normal clothing? It just didn't make any sort of sense. Unless...

"There was, no, _is _something here. Something my Father didn't want me involved in." He realized as he laid in his bed, reaching skyward as he clenched his fist. Then he remembered the incident he told his father about:

"World Tree Pavilion, just after sunrise. Drank too much, stayed up all night and felt like walking, saw _that_. It was impossible, wasn't it?" He set his alarm clock for 4 a.m. and prepared an outfit he had stashed in the ceiling.

"He feared for me when he left me. He was prying into things people in high places would rather not see the light of day." A large grin crept across his face. "Hehe, this is exciting, I'm getting worked up just thinking about it! I'll show those Potter Posers what a mere muggle can do!" He said. Then he took a double shot of whiskey to hasten his loss of consciousness, He'd need all the rest he could get.

When the alarm went off it was still dark, but it was clear that the sun was fast approaching the horizon. He donned the outfit. It was such a simple costume, consisting of a simple ceramic mask with the kanji for "you", a full-body cloak, and a pair of leather gloves that, when put together, would completely hide all aspects of his identity.

He snuck into a building overlooking the pavilion through an unlocked door. He felt a powerful urge to run away as he made his approach, but he shook it off. The janitors had a habit of forgetting to lock the doors behind them after a long night. Nobody else ever seemed to notice this, so they were never reprimanded.

"Thank God I hate snitches." He thought. He quietly opened a second story window and threw a small gray pellet into the middle of the area, then closed the window and equipped an earbud.

"Now I'll get to hear you turkey's talk!" He thought.

Sure enough, about 30 minutes later a young female professor and several small children filed into the pavilion. He ducked below the windowsill and pushed the earbud into his ear whilst plugging the other one. He tried not to think about the people below him, remembering the warnings of his father:

"If you're shadowing someone, gunning for them, or just in their general vicinity and don't want to get their attention, Remember this fact. _Everyone_ has a bit of a sixth sense. For instance, we know when other people are looking at us, and sometimes we can tell that they're thinking about us. Therefore, you will not think about them. And above all else you will not look directly at them. If you do, you will probably trigger that sense and get discovered before you've completed your business. That is an example of failure, Scott, and I have not raised you to fail."

"Ok children, today we're going to continue learning basic attack magic." Said a calm feminine voice.

"Pff, I already know how to make fire**. **Watch! _Practe Bigi Nar Ardescat!" _He heard a flame dancing in the wind._ "_See? Give me some gasoline and I'm good to go!" said an impetuous male.

"That most basic of magics will not save you from the threats that lurk in the darker parts of the world Atreu!" Said the woman, scolding him.

"Says you Sensei!" Responded the impetuous brat, "Brains beat brawn every day of the week! My dad taught me that!"

"Isn't your father dead Mahi? Didn't he die sealing that demon?" Said a young girl.

"Shadup!" Said the child angrily.

"Ohh, hit a sore spot didn't I? I suppose if he had more brains he'd still be here, eh? Oh, I forgot," she said cruely, "he's not. Well, since he was a weak little…"

"SHAD-UUUUP!" The child yelled at the top of his lungs. Scott heard the sound of a fist impacting flesh. "How dare you say that! He was, *sniff* he was…" Scott could almost hear the tears flowing down the young man's face. He wanted so dearly to see, but that warning kept his head down.

Whatever this was, it was _not _acting in any sense of the word. He was certain that whole exchange was serious. But that meant…

"Damnit!" he thought as he slammed his fist against the wall, "…damnitdamnitdamnitDAMNIT!" He slammed it again, "I was right. Magic exists, and there's a conspiracy aiming to keeping it hidden. Fuck, I bet that J.K. Rowling bitch is in on it. God knows those books helped would've helped with the plausible deniability of such a conspiracy! This must have been what my father was searching for, proof of its existence. And I haven't heard from him in a month. Oh no, did they…"

His rage gave way to fear. His father had taught him enough of the true history of the world to know what happens when powerful people decide someone "knows too much".

"I have to get out of here before I'm found out." He thought, pushing his swelling emotions aside. He deactivated the bug and snuck out of the building. As he opened the door opposite of the pavilion a chill ran up his spine. Another of his father's warnings forged its way to the surface of his mind, chilling him to the bone.

"You'll know when you've fucked up. A kind of chill will run up your spine as a sense of despair fills your soul. After that terror will attempt to claim your mind." All this was happening to him now, "If this happens to you_…__** RUN! **_Run as fast as your body will allow you to as you pray as hard as you can to whatever supernatural powers you believe exist. Trust me, you'll need their help to get away at that point. They've found you, and they are in no way feeling merciful. Take it from a formal monster. You have two outcomes at that point, escape or death. No exceptions."

"Oh fuck me, I've been found out! I beg of you almighty God, give me the strength to run away!" He prayed as he immediately broke into a hard sprint. A woman descended from the sky as though she had leaped from the pavilion. A look of contempt filled her eyes as her feet touched the ground.

"Eat _THIS_!" he yelled instinctively as he leaped and punched her as hard as he could in the face, the massive dose of adrenaline he just recieved releasing all the subconscious restraints placed upon his strength. The bones in his hand cracked under the strain as it pierced her barrier and impacted her skull with incredible force, sending her flying. She hit the ground limply, out cold.

"Tyamira-Sensei!" Screamed the children in unison.

He kept running, his heart and legs assuming the character of a hummingbird. Two beams of light were streaming towards him.

"Crap!" he screamed in his mind as he rolled diagonally to the side, barely dodging them. He regained his footing without losing momentum. A few more paces and he jumped and turned in midair to throw a few packets which exploded into a large, thick screen of smoke. Two more beams passed through the cloud, but they missed him by a wide margin.

"Gotta see em' to hit em' eh? Weak." He thought.

He made it to his room without any more trouble. He locked the door behind him and collapsed due to exhaustion and adrenaline withdrawal. After he caught his breath he got some ice out of his freezer to put on his hand. As he fell onto his bed he noticed a postage box that wasn't on his desk when he left.

"Jeez, don't they know there are mailboxes for this sort of thing?" he thought. Yet upon closer inspection he was surprised to see that it had no postage markings of any kind. He shook it and it rattled, then he slammed it on the desk repeatedly, nothing happened.

"Goddamnit, just explode on me already!" He yelled.

*Slam* *Slam* "Hey, some of us are trying to sleep here!"

"Can it Nomura, I know for a fact you stayed up all night playing H-games!"

"No I didn't!" He responded indignantly.

"Fun fact ya little wanker, I'm up till at least 3a.m. So you might wanna keep the volume down until then. Sex moans are pretty damn easy to recognize, understand?" Of course, he went under much earlier than that last night. But Nomura was very predictable.

"Screw you Gaijin Yankee!"

"Heeeell. If being a Gaijin Yankee makes me less of a pervert than you, then I'm sure as hell glad I am one! Now go back to your 'fun' with the 2D ladies. After all, it's the only action you'll ever see in this life ya butt ugly jap! Gyahahahahaaaa!" He responded.

"Grrrrr, I hate you!" Nomura pouted as he went back to doing exactly what Scott thought he was doing.

He set the dented package down on his desk and stared at it. His mind became full with speculations on what could be in the box. Bombs? Drugs? CIA Intelligence Reports? The Holy Grail? Anthrax? What's in the box?" He wondered, and wondered, and _wondered_… He knew opening it was the worst idea ever but…

"Gah! I can't take it anymore!" He yelled.

He savagely tore it open and found an exquisitely made prop pistol that looked pretty damn familiar and a note attached to it with a bit of twine.

Dear MedicantSlayer9,

I've known you for many years, yet I've never seen your face, nor have I ever gotten you a birthday present. I know this prop isn't much, but I wanted to get you something you'd think was cool. I know how much you love anime so I hope it looks familiar to you. Sorry it isn't perfect, moving parts are hard to make ya' know? Still, I hope you like it. Be sure to talk to me next time we're both online. You're one awesome motherfucker, never forget that. Ok?

Practe,

CalmDissidia666

This was all very strange, he knew Calm, and Calm knew him. They both knew each other's true name. So why use online handles when they haven't done so for over a year? Furthermore, the close was unorthodox. "Practe?" What the hell was that supposed to…mean.

He picked up the gun and focused his mind, then waved the gun and said "Practe Bigi Nar." Nothing. Now he focused all his energy and in all seriousness and shouted the words "_Practe Bigi Nar, Ardescat!_"

Two rings of metal fell off the gun to reveal what looked like vents and the breech opened up. The letter immediately began to glow and the writing disappeared. In its place were 5 big words "So You Figured It Out" with a play, pause, and stop symbol in the lower left of the paper. He hit play. A hologram of a tan individual with a sun tattoo around one of his eyes appeared.

"Ho-ly shit. This was one hell of a long shot, damn you're in deep. Of course, I already thought you were. You're too smart for their bullshit.

Anyway Scott, that gun ain't no replica, it's a fully functional reproduction with a few extra features. If you fire it empty it's a standard anti-golem antique. Hits like a good punch on people and completely deactivates magic powered constructs. We're almost done with the ammo to go with it. I got a mad scientist and one of the best mages in my world. Seriously, it'll be badass once it's all said and done. Just hang in there, and don't get caught. I want to meet you in person one day, it'd suck if you thought me a complete stranger. So keep em' in the dark for me in the meantime eh? C'ya around…" The image faded.

"Holy shit, all these years I've been best buds with a mage and didn't know it. And now I know this school's full of em'…now that's some epic level paranoia fuel." He thought. He couldn't break the masquerade, anything he could do or think up had already been tried and failed. Else there wouldn't _be_ a masquerade in the first place. He decided to forget about that for the moment and text Ai.

"Haven't seen you in a few days, wanna skip classes for the day and hang out with me?"

"Wha? No, I need to keep my grades up!"

"You're getting perfect grades."

"Yeah, and I want to keep them that way."

"Ok then, how about this, I've discovered something interesting."

"What is it?"

"Hehe, it's not something that can be explained. Rather, it needs to be seen."

"Show me after classes."

"Gah! C'mon. Please /beg?"

"Sorry, but I'll make it up to you. Maybe I'll let you make them bigger :3"

"No point in arguing with you I see, fine. You better meet me after classes."

"I will. Love you. "

"Yeah yeah love you too grumble grumble." A faint smile showed on her face as she read that last text.

He Grabbed his head, "Damnit! The longer she's in the dark the more danger she's in! To make matters worse, the only way she'll believe me is if I show her the caster! GAAAAAAAH!"

He slammed his fists on the desk, "Oh fuck it!" He retrieved a fifth of vodka he'd stashed and took a large swig. "Kheeeee. I need a drink after all this shit. No, beyond that, I need to get fucked the hell up! Fuck classes and this lying shithole of a school while I'm at it! I've officially had all I can fucking take goddamnit! _Fuck this Crapsack World!_" he thought as he upended the bottle, chugging the liquor to get as drunk as he possibly could.

It was now 9p.m. local time, the sky was dark and Scott was beyond shitfaced waiting by a fountain with a 40 in hand.

"Scott! Why you…you told me you'd stop doing this!" She said trembling with rage.

"I'm *hic* sorry me love, but ye don't understand."

"Don't understand what? You don't need booze now that you have me! I don't want you to hurt yourself like this!" He started to chug, tears began to well up in her eyes. "Stop it! Please!"

He produced the 'prop' his buddy sent him. "Reconize this thing?"

"Yeah, I know that thing. It was in that anime you made me watch a week ago. It's called a caster, right?"

He fired it straight at the ground, a beam of light flew from the barrel and exploded next to Ai's feet.

"What?" She responded.

"Now I know what ye thinkin', how the hell did ye boy Scott get his hands on a fully armed and operational caster." He fired it a few more times rapidly at the same spot. There was virtually no recoil, so his accuracy was nearly perfect. "Well, not quite fully, shells are in de mail as we speak! Hehe *hic*."

"I have no idea how you're making it shoot like that. Tell me how." her rage was giving way to curiosity. Such realism shouldn't be possible yet, so how did he pull this off?

"Magic." He pointed the gun at his left hand and fired. It was just as Vajra said it would be. It felt just like a good punch, pain and all. His left hand started to bruise. It was now that Ai noticed the fresh ice on his right.

"Wha…what is this? Scott, what have you been doing? Why have you been drinking! Please tell me!"

"You wouldn't believe me unless you saw." He wiped the moisture from her face, "Magic, it exists Ai, and I had a run in with a few mages just after sunrise today." He handed her the recording her bug had picked up and waited for her to finish listening to it.

"I dinnae know tha extent of they powers…if they discovered me true identity and started to investigate, they'd find ye in an instant. Oh God. They could do so much worse than torture ye in front of me eyes!" Now he began to cry, "What if they threatened to remove the very memory of you from my mind to ensure me silence, or worse, me cooperation in their schemes to ferret out others like meself? I couldn't take it Ai, the longer ye remained in the dark…"

Ai had seen Scott like this before. However, even when thoroughly inebriated he never acted like this. The sincerity in his voice... No matter how unbelievable his story, no matter how crazy he sounded…

"The more danger I was in. Anyone could be on the other side, determined to maintain the masquerade at all costs."

"Yeah. Please undestand, I would nae be like dis if I could stand these thoughts sober Ai. Please stop crying Ai," He put his hand to her face, "tha more ye cry…"

"Oh Cipher." She pressed his head hard into her flat chest. "I'm sorry. if I would have listened to you earlier you wouldn't have…"

"*sniff* It's ok, I'm just happy ye don't think I'm crazy."

"Hehe, yeah you are, but that's one of the things I love most about you." She smiled through her tears.

"Us both. Ye don't get into tha Science club if ye not psychologically unstable."

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Once more, they held each other tightly. Too bad Scott threw up on her mere moments later and passed out. She carried him to his room and placed him on his stomach.

"Friggin' drunk, why did I have to go and fall for_ you_ of all people? Because of this...I'm not going to let you touch me for a month!" She yelled at him. It was a promise she ultimately couldn't keep and she knew it, but she sure as hell was going to try. She wasn't about to let someone she loved destroy themselves like that. He loved her too, he'd pour it all into the drain if only he could kiss her once more. That's what she hoped anyway.


	14. Concurrent Phenomenon

As Scott lost consciousness…

"He's going about this the wrong way." Said Koine.

"I know. This stuff isn't going to be in some library book or even a corrupt politician's head. Only leading members of organizations like the Illuminati or Cosmo Entelecheia would even have a chance of knowing what we need. Too bad loosening the lips of people like that involves sinking to depths so low they'd repulse even the most ruthless contract killers. They won't do what it takes, I doubt any of us could." He said with eyes closed while shrugging his shoulder's, smiling, "Still, Don't knock the man if you don't have a better idea."

"Oh but I do. See that anomaly is the key. He's all we ever needed." She responded.

"How so?"

"Think about it. The throne is, at its core, _a weapon._" Her voice and manner became detached and intellectual, like she was lecturing a class of students,_ "_More specifically, a weapon that affects the minds of its victims. We know for a fact that the throne deletes memories. However, I doubt that's the true extent of its power. It's probably able to do far more than merely turn you into a blank slate. Thus, I believe that the areas around the information we require are defended by illusions, induced compulsions, memory charms, et cetera. That's what the dream I had last night said anyway."

"Ok, so if what you're saying is true, how do we make those facts useful?", It took him a second to finish processing the last part, "Wait, a dream? _That's _what gave you this idea! I thought you believed prophetic dreams are bullshit!"

Ignoring his protest, she continued, "I bet the treasure hunting guilds have stories and information about ruins and sites that they can't fully explore for some reason or difficult dungeons with unsprung traps that had absolutely nothing in the final chamber. Places like that are more likely to be related to the throne and thus may contain what we're looking for."

"You know, that probably won't narrow it down much. And that assumes they'll even tell you. Treasure hunters see things like that as a mystery or a personal challenge. They don't like outsiders butting in to steal their glory…or treasure as the case may be."

"Well then," she grabbed a strange looking device on the table next to her and stood up with a wicked smile on her face and an evil look in her eye, "I'll just have to try my best to 'convince' them, now won't I?"

Vajra produced a large hammer out of nowhere and hit her on top the head with it, "Stop it."

"Well how else do you propose we get our hands on the information then!" She complained, rubbing the lump on her head.

He smiled and said, "Convince them, how else?"

"That's exactly what I just said!" she yelled into his face with her fists at her waist.

"Yes, but I intend to convince them in a more traditional way." He responded, maintaining his sedate composure.

"Well, I thought fear and pain are the most ancient and therefore most traditional ways to convince someone." She retorted.

"Yeah, but the third and most acceptable method is smooth talk and lots of booze. Cheap booze preferably." He said the last part with eyes closed and a finger in the air.

"Then what's the second method?" She was pressing her breasts against him again.

"You're using it, and whatever it is, the answer is no."

"Awwwww…"

"Normally I'd say yes, but we both have work to do. I'll start hitting up the bars hunters frequent and you can start hacking guild databases, I'm sure we'll find something."

"You're always sure."

"If nothing else, ya gotta have faith that things will work out so long as you're doing the right thing."

"And hacking into secured databases and getting unsuspecting hunters shitfaced is 'the right thing to do' is it?" She said hoping to catch him in a contradiction.

"Hell yeah it is! Information deserves to be free. And those hunters don't have to drink those shots of tequila I order them if they don't want to, now do they?"

"Ok ok I get the picture. How's that data you promised me coming?"

"Pretty good, the operative just got the weapon we modified, once that other package arrives that data's as good as ours."

"What is it anyway?

"No idea, but that's what makes it so exciting!"

"You sure it's good?"

"Ab-so-lutely. There are people on both sides who would give their collective nuts for the info I suspect I have incoming."

"You'd better be ri~iiiight." She said playfully.

"I am, you'll see." He said, secretly unsure of it himself. Still, the stories his source had told him. He wouldn't lie to him, they were too close to each other, trusted each other too much… no way it wasn't going to be incredible.

Meanwhile…

"You're too reliant on that artifact, unsummon it immediately!" Ordered Mikoto.

Alex's progress in these last few months could best be described as "absolutely frightening". He hadn't even picked up a sword or used a cantrip before he met her. Now she wasn't so much teaching him as she was being his sparing partner. His natural affinity for a large, single sword pleased her. An individual's weapon ought to reflect their core personality, and that sword certainly reflected Cipher's (in her eyes at least).

"You've yet to even damage the thing despite directly attacking it this whole time. I doubt I'll ever be wanting of it." He responded.

"That doesn't matter, a true warrior prepares for every eventuality. That artifact should function as your trump card, _not_ as your primary means of attack! Now unsummon it or I chop off your arms. Understand!"

"Fine. Abeat." The artifact disappeared, leaving him shirtless with tattered jeans. If only he had the chiseled body that would make such an image sexy.

"Now, come at me again." She said.

"I'd rather not." He said as flames erupted around his sword. He slashed, sending a trail of flames towards Inari at great speed, engulfing her in a large explosion.

"That should do it." He thought. A moment later she slashed her sword, dissipating the smoke enough for him to see her clearly, a pure, white aura was flaring around her body. The manifestation of the ultimate art, kanka.

"My turn." She said.

She instantly closed the distance between them, a slim smile arcing across her face. She rapidly slashed at Alex with her swords. He managed to defend himself against the relentless onslaught, but not for long. She broke his guard moments later and landed a heavy hit to his midsection. Her smile widened, then disappeared when a human shaped piece of paper replaced Cipher.

"The end." he thought as he moved two fingers in front of his face. A powerful gravity well formed below her feet and compelled her submission. She was down on one knee, unable to move. He came from behind a tree, a haze swirling around him.

"Come now Inari, you're smarter than this. 'War is the way of deception' remember?"

"I do." A piece of paper now replaced her.

"Burst!" He yelled as the haze froze for an instant before unleashing powerful winds all around him. Inari was caught in their midst and blown high into the sky.

"This ought to impress you," He thought as he cloaked his blade in shadows and launched them at her position. She managed to regain her balance and slice through the attack right before it would have hit her.

"Not good enough…" She said. A pillar of fire was following a split second behind. She managed to cancel it with her other sword. She thought that was the end, but instead of seeing Cipher standing on the ground below, she beheld him flying towards her right behind the flames. She barely managed to block this rather uncharacteristic move. This change in his behavior filled her with joy.

"No mercy whatsoever, that's the way my apprentice! You've finally started to learn!" She thought.

The din of clashing steel filled the air. He was seriously trying to kill her now, another break with character that made her proud.

"Yes, that's it. I knew there was still a bit of that cold-blooded killer left somewhere in there!" She thought. After a few more moments he screwed up. He fell for her feint, he thought she was open, but she wasn't. She dodged his attack perfectly. Now he was wide open. She instinctively kicked him the moment he opened himself up, sending him hard into a tree. Once more, a puff of smoke revealed a humanoid sheet of paper. An incredibly intense gravity well formed below her, drilling her face _hard_ into the dirt. She struggled to get up on her knees.

"Darn, I was hoping that last clone's act would've done some damage. Oh well, if you want something done right, do it yourself. Now, my dear master, you will sub-MIT!" The well intensified, forcing her into a pose befitting his command.

"Why didn't you do this…earlier?" She asked, her arms and legs buckling under the strain.

"Well, I didn't want to get serious with you until you had done the same with me." He said blankly.

"Well said. Too bad I'm not serious yet." Her aura intensified by an order of magnitude, illuminating the night sky. She broke through the well and rushed towards Alex, "But I am now!"

"Oh shit!" He thought as he raised his guard. He held out for a few moments, but it would have been obvious to anyone watching that he was thoroughly outclassed. She broke through and landed several direct hits. As a result, he was rendered a bloody, bruised, and unconscious mess. Still, no matter what, his obstinance had forced her to get well and truly serious for a moment. Something few opponents had ever managed to accomplish.

"So you're still alive after that…heh…" She propped him up on her shoulder and carried him back to Koine's hideout.

"You're a freak…you know that Cipher? You shouldn't…be anywhere near this powerful… yet...I'm glad though. You're just the kind of student, I always wanted, to teach."

A week after that…

"So, you find out anything?" Asked Vajra.

"Not much, just a few suspicious entries about some ruins in the far northern reaches and a site in the desert without much documentation."

"Really? Incredible! That coincides with the rumors I've been hearing! We have a lead!" He said excitedly.

"Yes, but which one do we pursue?"

"Let's flip for it." He said happily.

"You mean you want to trust the fate of the old world to a _coin toss_!"

"Says the woman who placed all her faith in some random dream she had after downing half a bottle of 151." He retorted.

"I was tricked by Sneck! Furthermore, I'd bet money you were in on it too you traitor! One of you drunks used sense manipulation to prevent me from telling that fruit juice was alcoholic until it was too late! That kind of spell just happens to be one of your specialties. Right? My 'love'_?_"

"Hehehe, yeah…"

"Why you…" The veins on her forehead were popping up most prominently.

"Hey, you didn't get a hangover and we all had a great night on the town. You don't remember it of course, but still…"

"Whatever, this is still stupid." She said while thinking "I'll get you two for that later."

"That's the point. Logic, empirical data, and 'being smart' only get you so far. Sometimes, you just have to have faith, trust your instincts. You know, do what _feels_ right, not what you _think_ is right."

"Those are the sentiments of an idiot."

"I wouldn't knock those sentiments if I were you. They are what led me to you in the first place. When I first saw you, my brain _screamed_ 'run, just run. Nothing good can come of getting involved with her', but my heart had other plans. It told me you were the one that would fill my void. If I had listened to my brain, if I had done as logic told me, I wouldn't be with you."

"I could have lived without you." she said while turning away, blushing.

"Perhaps I could have lived without you as well. But you can't tell me we're not happier because we ignored logic and followed our hearts."

"Well…"

"So trust me on this, call it in the air." He flipped the coin high into the air.

"Tails, arctic reaches." He caught the coin a few moments later with a swipe of his hand and opened his palm.

"Tails, wanna go two out of three or just settle on this?"

"This is good enough."

"Ok then, we're headin' north. Wanna split everyone up and have the second team check the desert?"

"No, like a said before, the anomaly…"

"Alex." Vajra corrected her.

"Is the key. Without it,"

"Him."

"Any expedition is doomed to fail."

"I see, wanna tell Niven then?"

"No, I want to surprise him."

"Ok, that counts out Emiya then. But how do we leave him high and dry? He'll rat us out at first opportunity."

"With telepathy I take it?"

"Of course! They can communicate…oh wait."

"Precisely."

"But his range isn't all that good. It's what, two meters?"

"Not anymore, I've been helping it develop a technique to increase the range. It's such a good specimen, does exactly what I tell it to." She touched her chest. Nothing revved her engine quite like a fascinating, cooperative test subject.

"That's not a good thing Koine. I just don't know what it is about him. Sure he can easily pass for a soulless automaton, but that doesn't change the fact that he's kind, interesting to talk too, and damn near everything else I like to see in people. I ought to love the guy. Yet whenever he gets anywhere near me I just…Gah! This is your department, tell me why that is already!"

"Simple, it..." She was interrupted.

"Stop referring to him like he's some kind of object!"

"Ok ok. Ii, He, emits a kind of negative brainwave that cancels everyone else's out."

"Negative brainwaves," He tilted his head, "is that even possible?"

"Apparently so. You're right to question though, his existence really shouldn't be possible. He violates all our current laws of magic and science. His presence is totally and completely unexplainable by any modern theory. To put it in your terms, he is something straight out of Lovecraft. His presence is in all conceivable ways a sin against our preconceived 'natural' order. He ought not exist, yet he does, and that fact scares the living hell out of us on an instinctual level."

"Woah, that's just…I honestly can't describe that. But doesn't that mean if he starts to broadcast…"

"Why do you think I'm bringing…Sneck." She said disdainfully.

"Yeah, you try fighting while you're shitfaced, not as fun as you'd think."

"You won't have to be. People can get used to just about anything, and we're just about used to him. Just don't look into his eyes."

"Why not?"

"The technique broadcasts an especially strong signal through his line of sight, if you look him in the eyes when he uses that technique…"

"Lord almighty, it'd be a full on mind rape! You explain his predicament to him yet?"

"Yes, but he didn't believe me."

"Tell him in my terms?"

"Yes. He still didn't."

"Why not?"

"I Don't know. I think he's just lying to me. He doesn't want to believe it, but deep down he knows it's the truth. It explains everything that's happened to him perfectly. But that means it was always and everywhere his own fault."

"He ought to know it's not. It was always and everywhere his curse. And ultimately, I'd like to think, his blessing. I know a guy online that thinks all hardships of that nature are a test from Niven's God. Those who pass the trials of God go on to do great things and experience happiness beyond their wildest imagining." Said Vajra as he began to chug a glass of water.

"Speaking of which, I did some digging into that story like you asked. There is indeed a 'Scott Cipher', and one 'Alexander Cipher' is listed as the adoptive father." He swallowed the last ounce hard.

"So…he really does have a kid huh?"

"He said as much to Inari. That kid is probably why he's even doing all of this in the first place."

"So he was telling the truth the entire time, thought he was, but..." If Alexander ever got wind of what his scheming involved…he hid his fear perfectly.

She looked at him in the eye with a smile, "I never doubted the story. He's not the type to lie outright."

"How do you know this? Niven's told us about his past remember? Poor liars don't last as long as he did in the underworld."

"He was then, but he shows none of those signs now. He's a very different man from the one who would kill for the highest bidder."

"Again, how do you know this?"

"Because you taught me how to read people. So, did I get it right?"

"Good job Tsuruda, good job. You've mastered that skill if you could read his nigh unflinching poker face! That makes me happy."

"Good, then we won't need Sneck!" She said excitedly.

"Oh no, we're still bringing him, he's a good fighter when the chips are down and we might need him. Especially since Ffion is with Niven at the moment."

"Damnit!" She exclaimed.

"Don't take chances, the smallest thing can mean the difference between a breakthrough or another waste of time. Isn't that your philosophy?"

"One of them…" She conceded reluctantly.

"Ok then."

"But I really don't like him."

"I know. Too bad for you that _I _tend to like his drunken ass."

"Ok fine, we'll take him. But when we get back that info better be ready for me."

"Oh it will, trust me baby, it will. My man would never let me down."

"You still haven't told me who this 'man' is. Feel like loosening those lips?" She draped her arms around him and looked lustfully into his eyes.

"Nope, not even if you were naked." Alex'd kill him in his sleep if he found out he dragged his son into this. And he knew Koine'd offer that bit of info up as a bargaining chip if he ever refused to consent to any of her upcoming experiments. So, though he was horny as all hell, he refused.

"Damn!" She said.

"'Beauty trumps a man's principles 99 times out a hundred'_ my ass _you cock blocking son of a bitch! When this is all over..." He thought.


	15. Things Better Left Unknown

Niven and Ffion had been invited to the private estate of a certain contact that claimed to have information of pertinent interest to them. It was one hell of a villa. Exquisite Classical architecture, fine artwork, fine wine, the works. And surrounded by such an idyllic landscape…It was absolutely beautiful by anyone's standards.

"You sure we can trust someone like this Heph?" Asked Ffion.

"No, but we're pretty much out of options. Sneck said this guy's got dirt on darn near everyone important. They wouldn't talk to us, but I bet they talked to him."

"That's probably cuz' he's done a few 'jobs' for them."

"In the underworld it's pretty easy to kill your way to the top. It's a sad commentary that such methods are quite effective outside of it as well."

The contact they were speaking of was one of the magical world's premier assassins, Axl Rose Bouquet (he always did hate his name). Axl had been active for over 20 years now and had quite a resume of death, not to mention all kinds of contacts. Thus, information brokering had become a way for him to earn supplementary income between jobs. It goes without saying that both avenues made him obscene amounts of drachma. Sneck knew him because he beat him in a drinking contest a few years ago and got him to tell him who and what he was. However, instead of silencing the witness like he normally did, he got a bit whimsical and became friends with him instead. To this day he has no idea why he did that. Still, it's not like it was a stupid move. Sneck could keep his mouth shut, had interesting stories, and could find and deliver any tool he needed for his jobs (which he got at "friend" prices to boot!)

He descended the staircase into the great hall were his guests were awaiting him. He looked rather average and had salt and pepper hair styled like he was some kind of politician (his favorite kind of customer). He was also, pardon the cliché, dressed to kill. Black jacket, black pants, black shoes, and a red tie. His guests were in similarly formal attire. Ffion was wearing some nice jewelry and a golden yellow China dress, whereas Niven was wearing his clerical cassock.

"You know, I never thought I'd see the day Mr. Hephesanes." He said with a slight southern accent.

"The day you'd what?" Responded Ffion.

"The day I'd see a Catholic Priest slash Magister Magi not here to condemn, arrest, or kill me. It must be moments like this that explain why I didn't kill that drunkard. So many interesting things have happened to me because of him. But I digress, you'll regard everything I have to say here as if I said it in a confession yes?"

"If that is your wish, I'll consider this an official confession. Since you seem to know what that means, I won't explain it." Said Niven.

"And the Kitsune?"

"Snitches deserve to die!" She yelled enthusiastically with eyes closed and a fist in the air.

"Ahhaha. Indeed they do Miss Rose, indeed they do. Alright, I'll tell you something you'll find most interesting. Do you know how the Mundus Magicus came into being Weaver?"

Niven siezed upon that last word, the demon at Stonehenge… "Weaver, why do you call me that?"

"Because that's your unofficial name in the underworld Mr. Hephesanes. This shouldn't surprise you. After all, you've done some rather crazy things in addition to the reputation you got during the war. You are most commonly known as 'The Great Weaver', the undisputed master of Grand Magic. But the stunt you pulled at Stonehenge, in addition to your use of underworld contacts and organizations has rendered you one of the more famous figures in our circles (for a Magister anyway). Didn't Jason ever tell you?"

"No. He didn't."

"I can see why. I bet you wouldn't like it if you knew people like me looked up to you."

"A heartless, soulless assassin looking up to me? A man of God? Impossible."

"Yet so very possible. You may not believe me, but we in the darkest shadows desire the same things you radicals do. We despise secrets (but mainly, we want new markets)."

"Now that's rich. One whose very livelihood relies on secrets despising them. You'll forgive me if I start to laugh." Responded Hephesanes in a rare tone.

"I will. As Evil cannot comprehend Good, Good cannot comprehend Evil. No…that's not completely right…some rare individuals really can understand both the light and the dark. I think you already know such a person. I'd love to meet them face to face one day. A ruthless criminal who did quite a bit of wetwork actually making it out of the underworld alive…now that is one thing _I _thought impossible. Tell you what, make that the payment for my information, and you can keep that large sack of Drachma you have on you."

"Who are you talking about?" he asked, fearing the answer.

"The Fateless." Again, another name he'd heard before.

"The fateless? Who are you talking about?"

"Dang. Sneck keeps you on a short leash doesn't he. That man, or woman for all we know, is the only person we know of that is completely immune to scrying. Normally, if you attempt to scry a person whose status is unknown (like if they're said to have perished) you either get confirmation or murky uncertainty. But for the fateless things are different. You get nothing, _absolutely nothing_. That's not normal, Mr. Hephesanes. It has freaked out seers for years. Vajra SunnyNight, (surely a pseudonym, nobody has a name like that), has posted stories about him for some time. All we know for sure is that he or she is a former old world "Universal Problem Solver", and that you know him/her."

"Enough banter and exposition," Said Niven, not wanting to answer the forthcoming questions, "what do you know of the Throne of Mnemosyne?" Asked Niven.

"Nothing I am afraid. Pity, I dug pretty deep. In fact, I think I got another hit put out on my for my efforts. Still, the horror I've uncovered is greater than yours Weaver. Are you sure you want to hear it?" He produced a stack of papers from his jacket.

"What horror can be greater than the deletion of the memory of over 7 billion individual's memories?" He asked seriously.

"How about the total extinction of about a billion existences?" Responded Axl.

"Extinction of… existence?"

"Yes. All MegaloMesembrian citizens (like me and you) and all old world entities don't have a thing to worry about, but everyone else…Well, they won't last more than 14 years."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I mean they are nothing but illusions. Ghosts, Phantasms, Mystic Constructs, call them what you will. They are not human, they are not even totally real."

"Nonsense." Said Niven.

"It isn't," Bouquet handed it to Niven, "Have your resident mad scientist look over the data if you doubt me, she'll come to the same conclusions I have."

"There is no way. This world has existed since time literally immemorial. It can't just…disappear."

"It can, and it will within the next 14 years, give or take a year. All non-Mesembrian citizens will simply vanish, the rest will be tossed out into the nigh unsurvivable wilderness of Mars. Gotta envy the abhumans in that regard. At least they get to die quick. People like you and me get the slow and painful treatment I only offer to frequent repeat customers. Well, that is, unless they plan on moving to the old world in a few years like I do. I'm thinking an estate in Texas, always did love vast plains, you?"

"What of Emiya and Sneck." Niven responded, ignoring Axl's question, "The offices told me they were ineligible for citizenship, yet they are undeniably human. They never told me why they were refused."

"Haha, it's because they know what I know. The reason they were refused was because there were instances of interspecies mingling in their family tree. That fact ties their existence to the existence of this world. All non-Mesembrian citizens slash non-old worlders are, as I said earlier, nothing more than a sentient mass of magical energy. Their form and properties may indeed be determined by what you call 'genetics', but that doesn't change the truth of their existence, their "substance", as you would understand it."

"I still cannot accept it. I've touched them, talked to them, cried with them. And if you're looking for 'scientific evidence' of their existence, I've got it in spades. They bleed out, their corpses bloat and decay in the sun, they have children, grow old, get sick…Everything a human body does and can do, they do as well in all perceivable respects."

"I'm not disputing that. I am just saying that when this world finally collapses and ceases to exist, so will they."

"What about me then!" Asked Rose.

"You're a youkai of the old world, and given those five tails, a very old and powerful one at that. You'll be just fine. So will Vajra and the fateless if they are what I believe them to be. Your other associates, however, are doomed."

"You lying." Said Niven, he had seen so much in his life, and lost many close friends for one reason or another. The thought of losing more…his mind refused to process it.

"I only wish I were Father. I…" He froze in mid sentence. The sound of someone approaching from behind pierced the new, unearthly silence.

"I would listen to that statue's words Weaver, not often you see a guy with a positive I.Q. Still in the single digits mind you but…" Said a cold, malevolent, and sadly familiar voice. Everything around them seemed frozen in time. Their contact, the particles of dust picked up by the wind, the water from the fountain, everything.

"You!" Responded Niven, recognizing the demon that almost killed his friend. He was dressed like a government agent, with the impeccably fine haircut that seemed all the rage with old world power elite that still had any hair.

"Yeah. Me. How do you like this little spell of mine? Can't escape, can't call for help, can do whateeeeever you want to the weak little shits who get frozen in the realm between dimensions."

"End this spell now! You'll rip us all apart at the molecular level including yourself!" He ordered in desperation. Tsuruda had completed the basic theory that would enable the use of this type of magic, but refused to attempt it because of the aforementioned danger. Dimensional manipulation of this sort was beyond modernity. At least, it should be…

"Naaaah. See, it's only dangerous if you're reaching beyond your place when you cast it. I assure you, a spell like this is a walk in the park for me. I can keep this up all day if I wanted!"

"Then how in God's name were you bound? If this kind of spell is easy, then only an S ranked mage could ever hope to defeat you, let alone bind you."

"Whose to say they didn't?"

"Only the members of Al Rubra and Evangeline bear that classification, and as far as I know they don't have any pet demons. Especially not one's on your level."

"Pff, oh come now, do you _really_ think they're the only demigods in existence? I mean look at you, you're definitely powerful enough to hang with those assholes, especially in your younger days. I seriously wonder if all of you mundus magicus fucktards cream your pants at the mere allusion to those so called 'heroes'. Seriously, they weren't all THAT great. And "The Dark Evangel?" Please, a powerless little bitch like her isn't worth my time."

"Why are you here, answer me!" Demanded Niven.

The "Statue" that was called Bouquet emitted a harsh light and began to move. He took a moment to catch his breath

"*Ahem* Well that was embarrassing. I've always made it a point to avoid killing without payment, even if they've pissed me off," He pointed at the demon, "but I'll make an exception for you."

"Damn, you really _are _the kind of bastard my master says you are! Why am I here you ask? Well, I guess there's no reason for me not to tell you. Me and my associates have been ordered to gauge your little group's progress. You do outnumber us at the moment though, so we've had to carefully select our targets. Find a suitable sample of the population, as it were. And even in that regard you screw us over by getting a random high level assassin involved. He even managed to synchronize himself with this space against my will! Very impressive. I hate his guts, but damned if he doesn't know how to pick em'."

"Gauge our progress? What for?" Niven asked.

"Ahhhh. I'd love to tell you. Really, I would, but the binding you see."

"So your master is afraid to face me, is that it!" He was well and truly pissed off, his own ignorance fueling his rage.

"Pretty much. Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I hate him too. Buuuuut I have to follow orders. Seriously folks, this is why it truly sucks to be a demon. Yeah you get damn near eternal life and a shitload of power... But that really doesn't matter if all it takes is one bad day to make you somebody's prison bitch for all of _eternity_! Damn my life sucks. Oh well, who wants to die first!"

"That's not fair! You said you were testing us!" Complained Ffion.

"No. See, if you can't hold out long enough I get to end you. Or rather, I have to end you, but fuck technicalities," He assumed a stance, "Let's dance!"

The demon launched a fireball at each of them. Ffion and Axl dodged while Niven simply counter spelled. They tried to attack, but the demon was too fast.

"Rose!"

"Alright, Adeat!"

Apparently, nothing happened, not even a change of clothes.

"An artifact? Ooooo, I'm so scared!"

"Now you see me…" She kicked into the air, "What? Oh no! It's not working!" Said a terrified Rose.

"Oh wait, lemme guess. It's an assault type artifact related to space-time manipulation. See, that's not going to work in here. I made sure of it."

"Adeat!" Ianaset yelled as three small, unadorned white spheres appeared in his hands, "Rose! Bouquet! Catch!" He threw one to each of his allies

"An enhancement transference artifact, very nice." Said Bouquet telepathically.

"What are you planning? Sharing buffs isn't going to do much." Said Rose using the same mechanism.

"This one will."

"I'm afraid I agree with Miss Rose. I don't know of any enhancement that could elevate us to that level. Even if we were to stack multiple instances of Kanka we couldn't take this monster. I hate to say it, but we are outmatched Weaver. We must run away." Said Axl.

"This enhancement makes kanka look like a preschool cantrip."

"Are you insane? That spell almost killed you!" Objected Ffion.

"We're facing an S class enemy, we're not going to make it unless we do something really, _really _stupid."

"Forbidden magic? I like where this is going. I'm in, do it." Responded Axl.

The demon seemed focused on eliminating Ffion and Axl, ignoring Niven completely. When he focused on one the other attacked to no avail. When they tried to chant a powerful spell or charge a more powerful attack the demon would switch focus and interrupt them fractions of a second before they could complete their preparation. This fighting was meaningless. Even at his restrained level the demon was just simply _better _than both of them combined. They were completely and utterly outclassed, mere tools for the demon's amusement. And he made sure they knew it.

"But you might kill us all!"

"It's a risk we're going to have to take. Besides I think I've figured it all out. Just make sure he doesn't break my concentration you two. If he does, we really will die."

He summoned a small mass of prophecy spirits and began to utter an alien incantation. That is to say, it was in a language completely alien to all the peoples of the Earth and the Mundus Magicus, defiant of all conventional description. Yet somehow, as he spoke the words, their meaning appeared in the minds of all who heard it. The demon was so focused on eliminating Rose and Axl that almost a full minute had passed before he noticed that Niven was chanting. Though obscenely powerful and viewing most other forms of life as inferior to itself (a view he was pretty much justified in holding), he made a point of being realistic. The most powerful High Ancient incantations will hurt anything. You can only take so many "Thousand Thunderbolts" before you cease to exist. The fact that Niven was said to have mastered the art of doublecasting such incantations did not inspire any kind of confidence in himself.

"Oh no you don't!" Yelled the demon as he shifted focus to Hephesanes.

"Too late!" Said Niven as a translucent aura formed around him and his allies. Ffion instantly appeared in front of the demon and kicked him in the face, slamming him through the wall and into the courtyard. The world began to move once more.

He wanted to make a snide remark, but his head was swimming from the impact. Before he could recover Rose teleported into his path and delivered a backhanded fist to his noggin, stopping him in his tracks. She thrashed him about for a few seconds with her five now very long, flaming tails before slapping him into the air with them and delivering a savage reverse kick as he fell into range. This, predictably, sent him skipping along the ground like a rock thrown across a pond.

"I can feel it in my soul…this power…I've ascended to the ranks of the legendary Kyūbi! I can do anything!" Thought Ffion.

Bouquet was waiting for his quarry at the opposite end of the courtyard, his enemy skipped right past him.

"Adeat!" A strange looking bow materialized in his hands. It looked like it had seen way too much use, as though it had been shattered like a glass and glued back together, piece by piece. On the front of it was an ornate inscription in English. It read, "How's My Sniping?" He took careful aim at its head, keeping track of it perfectly in spite of all the bouncing. There was no arrow per se, just a collection of magical energy resembling one that was getting more and more potent by the second. When he finally came to a full stop at the other end of the courtyard he fired. The demon managed to jump just before the "arrow" would have decapitated him, instead taking the shot in the chest. It managed to pierce his shields and drill a good distance into his body, but didn't go all the way through like it was supposed to.

"That was 10 times more powerful than what I can normally manage and it still didn't go through him. He truly is on that transcendent level." He thought.

"Ghe-aaack *cough* *cough*" A black substance spurted from his mouth into his hand. He looked at it for a second, "hehe…Haha…_AAAHAHAHAHA!_ You hurt me. You actually managed to hurt me! Before I rip your throats out you're telling me where the hell you found that book. I was certain I destroyed every last copy."

The air grew cold as ice began to form on the demon's body. It plugged the wound and formed a few pieces of evil looking armor, sharp claws on his hands and feet, and two sets of horns. One stet sticking out of his forehead, the other sprouting from the back of his head and hugging his skull to around his temples.

"I see, a partial transformation. Why not go all the way? Why not show us your true form?" Asked Bouquet.

"See, nobody who's seen that has lasted more than 5 seconds. I'm supposed to gauge strength, not end it. Remember?"

"But you said if we couldn't last you'd kill us!" Protested Ffion.

"Yeah yeah, I'm one big fucking hypocrite. Spare me the lecture would ya. I've got a great deal in mind, so listen up. If you manage to hurt me again and you pass the test and you all get to live. But this time…" He moved almost faster than the eye could track, getting right in Niven's face.

"I'm not going to fuck around. Got it?"

Ffion teleported next to him and once more sent the demon packing before he could touch the wizard, just like any good ministra. This time, however, he was virtually unfazed and quickly recovered, launching a volley of large, glowing shards of ice at his attacker.

**Kyūbi****i Flaaaare!** A large burst of orange flames melted the ice on contact, but beams of light pierced the inferno and hit their target. Ffion raised her barriers just in time, but she still took a good hit.

"Damnit! Attacks within attacks…" She said telepathically.

"That's it! I know how we can end this abomination! Ffion, I'm going to need your help on this." He said as he beamed his plan into her brain.

"A combination attack? _HELL YEAH!_ I've always wanted to do one of those!"

"I'm going to need some time to prepare this. Can you keep him off both me and Niven for around 90 seconds?"

"I am the legendary Kyūbi , I can do anything."

"We'll see." He crossed his arms in front of himself and started his incantation.

The demon appeared next to him and whispered in his ear, "Damn, _another_ asshat intellectual. That article was refused publication in mainstream journals for a reason baka. It. Doesn't. Work." He slashed at Axl with his claws. Blood spewed from Bouquet's body as he allowed a satisfied look to creep across his face. That look turned to one of annoyance as the body evaporated into nothingness.

"Ohhhh fuck me." He said as everything he saw started to blur and bleed together.

"Yes_, fuck _you. I think it's time I reminded you what you're fighting," A force impacted his face.

"You stand against," multiple kicks to the midsection, "The forces," an invisible leg sweep rendering him horizontal in the air, "Of!" a high kick to his head sending him skyward. "Justice!" Hundreds of impacts rained down on every part of his body from all directions, cracking his armor and piercing his guard. "Destruction!" She crashed right through him as a flame engulfed fox. She landed on the ground and howled as a massive explosion filled the sky, seemingly consuming her enemy.

"Yeah! I look and sound so cool right now! I should have my own T.V. Show." She thought as she howled away.

**Arca Archa Glacies****! ****(Ice Coffin)** He screamed as he reduced the area right in front of her to absolute zero. It's a good thing she struck that pose, The incredibly hard block of ice formed millimeters in front of her. Had she just been standing on all fours her head and shoulders would have been inside said block, rendering her helpless.

"Mmmmmmmm!" She yelled through closed lips with a frightened look on her face, tears pouring out of her eyes. Shards of ice were raining down on random places. Praise God, that last attack was a fluke! Thus, She had already won. All of her enemy's senses were relaying to him bald-faced lies. He was falling towards the ground, yet to him he had at all times stood strong on Terra Firma. He knew all of this, but he couldn't counteract it. He was her bitch at this point, and he knew it…

"So this is the power of the fox spirits. No…of a true nine-tailed freak! The power of over 900 years condensed into this instant through impossible means…Damn you woman." He thought.

"My incantation is complete. We got 20 seconds, let us wail on him for a bit my radiant kitsune." Axl said telepathically.

"Let's!" She moved into position.

"Now!" He yelled into her mind.

"De-story!" She yelled.

She resumed her human form as they got on either side of him. She whirled around in the air, whaling on him with hands, feet, and tails encrusted in flame and Ki. Axl's bowstring unhinged itself from one end and showed his artifact for what it really was, a collection of hardened shards that fit together into a bow shape fastened onto a central string. Except for the shards that formed the handle, they spread out over the length of the string. He lashed out with this "cruelty whip", slashing him again and again and again. Their onslaught went on for about ten seconds before they decided it was time for the finisher.

"Return…" They yelled as they both kicked the demon into the air in perfect synchronicity, "To the void!"

**Ultimate ****Kyūbi**** Laser! **She thought as she fired nine beams of raw Ki from the tips of nine illusory tails behind her. They wrapped around each other and surged forward, drilling towards her enemy. The very air weighed down by the power she unleashed from the depths of her soul.

At the same time, Axl fired the spell the demon said wouldn't work. The article he mentioned was written by Niven after he was recognized as a radical magister. Since academia on both sides is, in Koine's words, "Full of idiots more dogmatic and closed minded than the Vatican" it was refused publication in the well-respected (read: Mainstream) academic journals. Their editors hate radicals, so they completely ignore everything they have to say. No matter how right or wrong they may be. As Saul Alinsky said, "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." They think that by ridiculing them and ignoring their ideas they will go away.

Too bad they fail to realize a most important fact. You can never kill the truth, no matter how hard you try. Combination spells have been managed by _many _individuals in the past. Their spells wrapping around and fusing with each other to form something far more powerful than each spell would have been if cast separately. The only problem was that it always took two or more mages working together to achieve this effect. Niven had created a way to do the same thing with only one mage, and he wasn't limited to just two separate spells either. He could combine as many as his power allowed. Three. Four. Twenty? No sweat! So long as you had the mojo that is. If what you need is as much destructive power as you could possibly tap in one blast, this was one of the best ways to go. Even better, the spell you fired would be totally new in every sense of the word. It would warrant a new name. Axl had managed to fuse four spells, two** Jovis Tepestas Flurguriens (Jupiter's Thunderstorm)** with two **ούρανία φλόγωσις (Blazing Fire in the Sky)**. The result of their fusion would be akin to a flare from the hottest stars.

"Yes, that's it. That fits this spell perfectly. Now rage…" He thrust his arms out and launched his attack.** "Eta Carinae!"**

Colossal pillars of flame, wind, and lightning erupted from his hands as they merged instantly to form a single stream of annihilation. The blood red fires becoming a deep blue. The ultimate attacks of Ffion and Axl met their target at the same instant, creating a truly impressive explosion. For a few moments, it looked as though it were noon. With their combined power, they had banished the night. Nobody could possibly survive that holocaust. They were sure of it.

"*hah* *hah* *hah* *hah* Won't work…will it?" Bouquet remarked as he fell to one knee.

"Ya-hooo! We did it we did it WE DID IIIIIT!" Yelled Ffion.

**Aeternus ****V****āstus**** (Eternal Wasteland!) **A beam of blue energy plunged through the smoke and smashed into the ground. A wave of frost encasing all in ice emanated from the impact zone. Everyone and everything was frozen solid. The demon slammed into the dirt a few seconds later, struggling to get up.

"Fuck *gasp* me. Damn that was close. You bastards almost managed to kill me. Never going to ignore him again. Yo, predestination buggers, you listening?" The mass of spirits turned and acknowledged his presence.

"Very good. When that pedophile wakes up tell him this." Niven's prison began to crack.

"Hehe, won't give in will he. Nevermind then." It shattered and he fell to his knees. The spirits faded away.

"You've actually managed to surprise me Weaver. Let me guess. Old leather tome. 'The Book of E' scratched onto the spine? You know, the guy I killed over it wasn't all that good at English. See, the book's true title is 'The _Grimoire _of Esmerelda'. The spell you just used was from Chapter 4, 'Elevation to the Status of Thine Enemy'. You're supposed to be reaching beyond your place whenever you cast it. Only a few seconds of action, massive recoil, grievous wounds. I think you've tried it before. But your artifact and those prophecy spirits helped you get around the limitations. *Clap* *Clap* *Clap* I have to hand it to ya Weaver. You are just what that spell needed. We could have taken out the grand master fucktard if you were around back then."

"How... how do you know all that!" Niven was shocked on too many levels. Not even The Vatican knew or even suspected of the existence of the book Alexander threw at his feet that night. The Book of E… The Book of… Esmerelda! That was it, it had to be. But...

"How do you know where I got that incantation!"

"Oh come on now Weaver, isn't it obvious? Your I.Q test says you're a bona fide genius! You can figure it out, right? Right!"

"Tell me…Tell me damn you!"

"Tell yourself baaaaka!"

"Have it your way demon. If you won't tell me…then you can burn in the flames of his most righteous judgment!" He crossed his arms in front of himself and began chanting in Greek. The demon grabbed his throat and held him up in the air, interrupting the spell.

"You just don't get it do you. You're a pawn, and I'm a bishop. I'm better than you on so many levels it'd be a chore to list them! You did entertain me though, so I'll offer you a deal. Just give up. Just look me in the eyes and admit my superiority and I'll let you live. And maybe, just maybe, if you get on all fours and beg like the old barren bitch that you are, I'll unfreeze the fox and the assassin."

"O *gah* K. I sub-mit. You-re bet-ter than *gurgle* us, please..." He said.

"Damn right I am." he released Niven, who after catching his breath assumed the pose of supplication, touching his forehead to the frozen Earth.

"Ok, that's good enough." He snapped his fingers, shattering the remaining prisons. Their contents were out cold, they just slumped over and fell to the ground.

"Your S ranked master, who is he demon? Tell me, and I swear to almighty God I will free you from your bondage." He said with complete honesty.

"Daaaaaamn. You really are one hundred percent radical aren't you. It's official Mr. Weaver, I love you from the very depths of my oozing black heart. But that doesn't change anything. All I can tell you is that you're playing right into my master's hands." He teleported away, but his voice remained, "You are his favorite pawn. From the instant he saw you..."

"You're wrong! You're wrong! Even if it costs me my immortal soul, I swear I'll destroy your master. You hear me Demon! I'll destroy you and everything your master stands for!" Niven said with unrivaled conviction.

"Willing to destroy yourself then?"

"What?"

"Oops, said too much. You'll see what I mean later on."

All that surrounded him was silence. He tended to his friends and returned them to health. He tried as hard as he could to contact Itsuki, but to no avail.

"Damnit Cipher, of all the times your power would become a liability. Why did it have to be now?"

* * *

It's kind of hard to capture in text what the manga does with people's thoughts hanging off to the side while they say something. So whenever a character's words are in parenthesis, he/she thought it while they were speaking and didn't say it.


	16. For Needless Violence part 1

The northern reaches of the mundus magicus was in many ways similar to Siberia, if Siberia had more people, lots of edible plant life, more interesting geography, and a bunch of monsters living in it. They had landed in a small village a few hours from where the next dungeon was. In this village was a bar Sneck had seen many times in the past. His biggest jobs, every time he did one he'd come here to get totally plastered. It didn't look like much, and it definitely had the "bad guy bar" feel to it. Smoke, poker games, death threats, drinking contests between rough looking fairies chugging from shot glasses filled with hard liquor, you get the picture.

Alex's entire party was wearing heavy cloaks except Inari, who was wearing an alteration of her normal outfit (thank God for kanka). She had ditched the leather straps for fingerless gloves, and exchanged the sarashi for a black silk tube top with intricate gold embroidery. It added a sense of refinement to her otherwise tough-girl outfit.

"Darn it, I should have remembered that Aleph shuts down telepathy before I let you drag me along Variens."

"Hey, dumb people have it coming." He said while shrugging his shoulders.

"But why can't we tell Nianaseeet." he complained.

"Because I want to surprise him (And show him he's nowhere near as smart as I am)." Said Tsuruda.

"But we might need him! He's really strong!"

"And old. He's a wizard class through and through and would need too much babysitting to be of any help. Fully dedicated casters aren't suited for this type of mission, we need someone who can take a punch and keep going."

"But I'm a wizard too!" Emiya pouted.

"Yes, but you're still young, work out occasionally, and have a talent for mystic reinforcement and transmutation. Translated, you can take a hit." Said Koine.

"What's supposed to be there anyway?" Asked Alex.

"Information pertaining to the Throne, perhaps even its location." She responded

A burly tiger-man walked up to the table.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. Are you people thinking of going into that dungeon a ways from here?

"And if we are?" Asked Alex.

"Well, I wouldn't waste your time. I tried to clear it a few times. No matter which path I chose, I always ended up back at the entrance. I tried every conceivable path, unleased a few dispulsos, even attempted a dungeon bypass. No matter what I did, I always ended up back in the wastes. I never could reach the end. (pity too, bet there's one hell of a treasure in there)"

"Oh I think we'll be just fine." said Inari.

"You're wasting your tiiime." He insisted as he shrugged his shoulders.

"You'll be eating those words when we come back here with a load of artifacts. Now leave."

"Whatever you say." He took a second look the scantly clad maiden next to him and concluded that she was attractive. "(I don't like em' flat, but I love it when they're sassy) Say, mind if I buy you a drink miss? The more time I spend around you, the more charming you're becoming." He draped his arms around her shoulders, his hands wandering dangerously close to a personal area.

There are lots of things Inari doesn't like, and being hit on by random men was definitely one of them. And the fact that he had the nerve to touch her like that…

"Sorry, I'm not into furries." She said bluntly.

*snap* "What…was that?"

"You heard me you overmuscled pussy. I. Am. Not. In. To. Fur. ries. I doubt your cat-sized brain can comprehend that. Can it comprehend the concept of 'Get the hell away from me?' or 'Fuck you?' No? Ok then, maybe it can barely discern the meaning off the phrase 'There _is no way in hell _I'll sleep with you!' Got it furry?" She smiled, but the look in her eyes could kill children. Quite scary.

"Heh…heh…heeeeeeeeee…" He threw off his cloak, put his hands together and started to glow, Inari responded by doing the same. This guy was shirtless and absolutely ripped. "You're gonna die for that you flat chested whore!" He snarled.

"Adeat!" She said as she drew her katana. A glowing longsword appeared in her other hand as armor materialized around her body. In an instant everyone was either behind cover with either a camcorder or its magical equivalent, running for the exit, or had thrown off their cloaks and equipped their weapons. What each group wanted needs no elucidation. Koine was about to throw her cloak off…but her laptop began to vibrate. She grabbed it, ran into the ladies room so fast it left a trail of dust, and placed sealing wards on the door once she got inside.

"Goddamnit! I just got this place fixed! Take it outside!" Said the middle aged, dog eared bartender. Everyone paused for a second, then started fighting anyway.

A bald Asian dude with white silk pants, black shoes, and a white oriental shirt trimmed thickly in blue was going kung fu master on Vajra, who was smiling psychotically as he dodged every blow perfectly. That is, up until he screwed up and caught the wrong end of a palm strike and was stunned into eating an ascending windmill kick. The last hit of that combo caused his body to dissipate into a flock of doves. A fan of shuriken came at the assailant from behind, but he roundhouse kicked them out of the air.

"You're good, damn good. That's good. It's been a while since I've had a good fight! Still, why attack me?" Asked a slightly inebriated Vajra.

"It seemed like the thing to do at the time." His opponent gave a sly smile.

"Fair enough! Adeat!" Vajra said. His enemy leaped up, stuck his feet to the ceiling, and started firing ki beams from his hands. Vajra met each one with a throwing…something. Daggers, kitchen knives, steel needles, swords, even a_ chainsaw_ or two. Each time he reached behind his back another random sharp thingy (sometimes multiple sharp thingies) would appear in his hand. These didn't stop the beams, they merely deflected them in a random direction. The last one…

Nailed Alex square in the side of the head. He hadn't moved since it all started, just sipping his drink like nothing was going on. As he was falling with a blank expression another person broke a chair on his skull, sending him into a wall. He instinctively conjured a strong gravity well right above his attacker, resulting in her head imbedding itself in the ceiling. She writhed for a moment, then pushed her hands and feet against the roof and popped herself out. She fell flat on her back. After a few seconds she stumbled onto her feet.

"Hahahaha! I see this ishn't your first fight." She had a pointy witch hat, long furry ears that fell just above her lower lip, a kimono that was barely long enough to keep her decent, and thigh high socks. She also looked to be 4.9 on the five point scales of both drunkenness and sexiness.

"Heeeey, you're actually pretty attractive you know that? How about we go to my house and have a few drinks together?"

She bent over and pushed her ample bosoms upward with her forearms.

"I think you've had enough." Responded Alex.

He wrapped his hands in flames, dashed in, delivered an uppercut with his left, and then punched her in the chest with his right shortly after. Sending her flying out the door on a wave of, well, fire. A stray pressure wave from Mikoto extinguished the blaze before it could spread.

"I am above such distractions. Understand?" He looked like he was, but he really wasn't.

She was completely unharmed, her stockings were singed, but she was otherwise fine. Her complexion was beet red.

"Attractive wasn't enough to describe you. No, you're burning hot! I want you so badly I can't even describe it! Please. Come home with me. I'll let you do whatever you want to me." She started assuming sexy poses in the snow  
"A-ny-thing-you-want !"

He hesitated. It had been a _very _long time after all, but he gathered his resolve and barely managed to say, "Tempting as hell, but no."

"Well, it's always better when they consent…" Two yo-yo's at his feet jumped up and bound him in string before he could react, binding him.

"Fuck, how did I miss that?" He thought.

She flash-stepped next to him and whispered into his ear, "But you, you're too much." She wrapped her hands around his face and kissed him, hard. The strings bound him more tightly the more he tried to break them. Paula was trying as hard as she could to chew through them. She bit down as hard as she could and pulled until her eyes watered, but her efforts were for naught.

"Now, let's go. I assure you, you've never been with a girl like me. You're going to love every moment I spend on top of you ." No doubt about it, she was sporting a full on rape face. His body was moving against his will. He draped his arm over her and groped her right breast as they walked away.

"Harder!" He squeezed as hard as he could, hard enough that he was surely hurting her, but she was obviously enjoying every second of it.

**"Dispulso! (Dispell)"** Screamed a cowering Emiya.

The strings fell away from him. He released her boob and thew her forward with another gravity well. He closed his eyes and readied what was perhaps his most "evil" attack. It wasn't a spell or technique so much as it was an amplification and focusing of his inborn ability. As has been stated at length earlier, people just don't like being around Alexander. The alien sensations his presence causes generate fear and loathing in the general population. Amplify this cause, focus it onto your enemy and…He opened his eyes and cried out in his mind the name of what he considered his ultimate technique.

**Cyaegha!**

His anti-brain waves washed over her like a tsunami. For one long moment, she was severed from any psychic connection she had to anyone. All psionic emissions were similarly knocked out. If there was a collective unconscious, she wasn't part of that collective anymore. She was absolutely and completely alone in a sense that cannot be adequately articulated by words.

Suffice it to say, ladies and gentlemen, this feeling is impossible to describe. It is like trying to explain the concept of light to one who has always lived in total darkness. You simply can't do it, only experience could teach you that truth. In any case, this "technique" always rendered the victim a catatonic, gibbering mess.

Unfortunately for him, it turned her on like nothing else she had ever experienced before.

She became as red as the blood that flowed through her veins. "HAAAAAAAAH!" She lunged at him with a look of inestimable lust on her face.

"How? How the hell…" He thought as something Scott said popped into his head, "Oh wonderful, I've just definitively verified Rule 36. I hate this world."

"Adeat!" He screamed as his artifact formed around him. He and Koine had made quite a few alterations. The jewels were now surrounded by four concentric rings inscribed in four of the major magical languages, Greek, Latin, Japanese and Sanskrit. They all spun counter to each other, the first and third spun counter-clockwise, and the others did the opposite. Two oricalcum triangles hovered just above each jewel, enabling him to use them in a more conventional manner (fist towards enemy instead of back-of-hand towards enemy). When he thrusts his hand/fist forward, the triangles move closer to each other and cause archs of magical energy to form a ghost ring sight, enabling him to aim the beams they way he would a gun. In addition to this, he had a wakashi on his left side, a large (I.e. as long as he was tall) Koine custom katana glued to his back through a special enchantment, and two guns hidden by the cutaway cossak behind him. Said guns were twin Glock 19 pistols set to full-auto. She lunged at him and went for a melee attack. His wakizashi clashed with her yo-yo's. They flung each other away.

"Please Miss, surrender. If I get serious you will die. I've seen far too many corpses in my life, don't make me view another."

"Damn right *hic* have." She responded.

"And you would know how?" he asked.

"I…," she drew a flask and drank deeply from it, "I love every *hic* about you!"

"Sure." He drew his Glock and administered "group therapy". He had mastered extra-dimensional ammo storage, but normally it just stores extra clips (i.e. you still have to reload). Koine had discovered a way to simply teleport the bullets into the gun as it cycled through them (whilst putting the shells into storage). This meant he could rock-and-roll until his guns overheated without the annoying reload problem. She blocked every bullet by spinning her left yo-yo. He sheathed his sword, drew the other pistol and started firing round after round at her from both barrels. She now had to use both yo-yo's to block it all, but she did. Sure enough, a few moments later, his guns overheated to the point of ammunition cook-off (that fun state where the gun starts going off without you pulling the trigger cuz it's so damn hot it ignites the gunpowder all by itself!)

"This just isn't right." He said bluntly.

"_You're_ not right! And that's why I love you! Oh dear God I love you so much! Marry me!" She screamed as she rushed towards him, "I know you want me! Just give in already!"

He ditched the guns and grabbed the sword on his back to defend the incoming flurry of attacks. He infused it with shadow magic, creating solid trails of darkness as he moved the sword about.

"Try this!" She said as the yo-yo's split and the strings unwove themselves. Now he had to predict and intercept the movement of four different objects coming at him from multiple directions. Even with shadow trails, he couldn't keep it up for long. He was going to get pummeled, t'was only a matter of time.

Thankfully Paula was with him at that moment, she scurried up onto his head.

"Watch the sexy beast!" She yelled as she cast a spell, **Ermine Flash!**

Bright light emanated from her body, causing the assailant to halt her attack and shield her eyes. Alex took the opportunity to leap back. While still airborne he thrust his fist forward. The triangles immediately formed up and made the sight. He was so full of adrenaline that time slowed down as he lined up a head shot. A lifeless look appeared in his eyes as he fired.

***BOOOOOM*** A massive, prismatically outlined beam of magical energy surged forward. Sadly, the magnified power of the artifact meant magnified recoil. He was sent tumbling down the street and slammed hard into a brick wall in a comical manner. He made a good impression on it, if you catch my drift.

She did an enlarged version of the confederate flag trick to shield herself. The beam's impact caused it to bulge towards her for a second before the strings broke and surrendered her to the forces of his artifact. Thankfully for her, that defense managed to significantly dampen the strength of the attack. What should have vaporized her merely knocked her unconscious.

"Now I know not to try that again," He got up and dusted himself off, "Thank you Paula. You literally saved my life." Said Alex.

"Oh no. I saved your precious virginity, big difference." She responded.

"I'm no virgin."

"OK let me rephrase that. You've never gotten any for free have you?"

"Yes I have." he was lying, but his apparent lack of emotion hid that fact perfectly.

"When?" She asked.

"Not telling."

"I did save you, so I'm calling in my favor. Out with it already!" She persisted.

"Ok fine. I've only slept with prostitutes. I've slept with lots of them on multiple occasions, but I stopped when I turned towards the light about 14 years ago. I've never been on a date in my entire life. Happy now?"

"Holy mother…you haven't had sex in 14 years!" She was truly shocked.

"Like I said, happy now."

"Dear god. I needed to find you a woman yesterday!"

He pointed to the lady he just knocked out. "Not her, way too crazy."

"Oh I'd never hook you up with a girl like her. You're a friend, aren't you?"

"I suppose so. Who would you set me up with then?" He asked in a vain act of curiosity.

"Mikoto." She said bluntly.

"Why?"

"Listen. When it comes to romance, nobody beats us ermines. We _know_ what we're talking about." She unraveled a scroll listing the names of several women he knew and numbers pertaining to several types of affection. How she even knew about a few of them was a thought that creeped him out a little.

"Mikoto has the highest overall score on this list. Thus, she is your best bet when it comes to a fulfilling and healthy relationship." Said Paula.

"Wait. If getting me laid is your primary goal, Ffion beats the competition at least 2 to 1 in that department. Furthermore, while the other scores are high, she has the lowest H rating and only a middling affection rating. To put it simply, I'm like a brother to her. Yet you think a romantic relationship between us is a forgone conclusion. Why?"

"I never said it was forgone, just recommended. I just want you to be happy."

"How so?"

"Why, in the way you and Niven would understand it of course." She put her paw to her chin, "Contrary to most Ermine intellectuals, the hentai stat is nothing more than another number. What matters is _total_ feelings. It indicates the maximum amount of happiness two people can reap if they fall in love each other. The happier both of you are _overall _with your partner, the more sex you'll want. The more sex you want, the more sex you'll have. The more sex you have, the happier I'll become. It's the ultimate virtuous cycle! Understand?"

"You truly are perverted to the core aren't you."

"Yes I am!" She said proudly.

"It's still too weird, I won't go along with it. I am her student and friend, nothing more."

"True, you're stats are almost exactly the same as hers, except all of your stats have a slow upward trend. (about a quarter point a month on average) If this continues, and I think it will, one of you will end up confessing. By the time that happens the other will definitely accept and you'll promptly start doing thing I intend to film!"

"If you do hand me a copy and tell me how you managed to access alternate timelines."

"Heh, you really need to work on your act. That wasn't funny at all."

"Wasn't trying to be." Blatant lies.

"Suuuure."

"I was being serious." More blatanlt lies.

"No you weren't. You're too prudish to relish pornography staring yourself." She nailed him. The fact that she could read him despite his emotionless voice and perfect poker face is a testament to what the Ermine race is capable of.

"You know nothing." Yet more blatant lies.

"Suuuure I don't. Quit denying it would ya, you two are getting closer by the day. Since Westermark isn't here, you two _will _end up in bed."

"I'm surprised you know about him. Even so, I'm betting against you. Can we move on? Our friends are in danger."

"Ok, ok I'll drop it. Still, think about it."

"I won't" As I said before. Blatant. Lies.


	17. For Needless Violence part 2

The bar was getting demolished by all the fighting. The bartender had ducked under the bar and grabbed the staff she'd hidden there. Sneck had already done something similar. He reached for the shelves and saved a bottle of Tequila, which he was now chugging.

"Jason, if these are friends of yours you better deal with em'!"

"Them? Nu-uh," He took a swig and pointed towards the chaos, "Not when they're like this, I'll get killed!"

"Goddamnit Jason, why do torment me like this? This is the tenth time you've trashed my bar you fucker! I swear to God if you don't pay for the damages by tomorrow morning I'm gonna turn you into a woman and whore you out till' your cootch is squirting blood and cum! YA HEAR ME!"

"Yeah yeah I hear ya." he said dismissively.

A massive wave of Ki slammed into the bar. It was stopped dead in its tracks, but now the bar was rather obviously cracked.

"Wow, you shielded the bar!"

"Yep! It can handle anything up to Ancient or A-rank!" She said with an undeniable sense of pride.

"Errr, I think that last one _was_ A-rank." He pointed at the crack.

"**FUCK! **Do you know how much that costs! How the fuck do you draw so many damn freaks to yourself you bastard!"

"Dunno, maybe it's cuz I'm so damn sexy." He smiled devilishly and resumed chugging.

"Fuck you. (You sexy bastard)."

"Free Booze!" said a horned teenager as he leaped for what remained of the shelf, and the few bottles of liquor still undamaged. The bartender ermified him just before he could grab a bottle of Spirytus vodka.

"Ermification! That means you…" She put her finger to his lips, grabbed the nearly stolen Vodka, and started talking.

"Got sick of ruining lives, at least that way. I loved doing it ya know, taking everything that mattered away from them. Their despair, their sorrow, the look on their face as I did it to them," A cold, evil smile crept across her face, but faded quickly, "but after a few decades it just stopped being fun. Or rather, I realized what I was. I was nothing more than a bureaucrat, a fucking _bureaucrat_ of all things! I was a bound spirit, a god damned_ slave to the system!_"

"So what does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything you dumbass. Upon that realization I quit and used my substantial savings to open my own bar in a place everyone considered 'entrepreneurial suicide.' (Really drives down the cost ya know) I showed them didn't I? Even if people like you swing by every once in awhile and raze it I still make money hand over fist. And every drink I sell to some down and out loser is another step down his own personal path to ruin. This is so much better. No arbitrary system, no reliance on anything outside myself. Just smooth talk and obscene profit. _This _was always my true calling. Wish I'd have seen that from the start."

"Heh, for a moment there, I almost forgot just how evil yet wonderfully awesome you are Tynave."

"Heh, here's to _true _evil." She said happily.

"To true evil!" He responded. They toasted fifths and started chugging.

"Say Tynave…ever think of changing sides?"

"Huh? You mean, becoming a truly good person with a shitload of angst on their back cuz' of all their past misdeeds? Plagued forever with the memory of their most vile sins?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Hahahaha! You've spent too much time spent around that priest friend of yours. Good thing you came here before you went straight!" She took a large swig.

"Afraid I'd hate you if I did?"

"Wha, n-no! Th-That's not it!" she was blushing.

"Hahahaha! That's it! I'm right! I _am_ more than a fun romp in the hay to you aren't I! Could it be," He leaned in close with a devious grin, "That you actually love me? My radiant Ty-nave-chan?" He kissed her, hard. She let him linger for an instant, then pushed him away forcefully.

"Why you two-timing little... Drinking contest," She quickly retrieved the remaining bottles and laid them out before them, "Now!"

"Thought you'd never ask." They commenced drinking.

"Hah…hah…" Both Vajra and his opponent were panting from exhaustion.

"I've heard, of your kind. To think, that you're actually, *gah*!" He grabbed the bleeding wound on his side, "this powerful..."

"Same to you, Ki master. Fighting you was, *wince*…" a sharp pain flowed through his abdomen, "an honor. Tell me, what is, your name?"

"Liang, Liang Bu Johnson."

"I am Vajra, Vajra SunnyNight."

"The radio host?"

"Yeah… you a fan?"

"I listen… every day I can…"

"You agree with my sentiments then!" He said with a cartoonishly hopeful look in his eyes.

"Not really, I just tune in for the music,"

"Cruuushed!" he blurted out like a baka ranger, but then Liang continued,

"It's so…unique. There's nothing like it over here. Strong, desperate, harsh, heavy, yet tender and sorrowful at times...It speaks to me on a very deep level. What is it? You, of all people, must know." This restored Vajra's status to normal.

"Hmmm," He assumed a pensive pose for a second, then put his fist in his palm, "Yeah! Always involves this guitarish sounding instrument that you just can't seem to find over here correct?"

"Yeah. What is it called?" He asked.

"God's gift to the eardrums of the universe! Also known as the electric guitar. I do believe you're a metalhead Mr. Johnson."

He tipped his head sideways, "Metalhead?"

"No time for that dissertation. Here, take this." He tossed him a black flash drive with a crude drawing of someone giving the finger on it, "That hack'll enable you to patch into the internet from any terminal on this side. That drive's the key to a gate, a gate to a whole new world."

"Internet? What's that?"

"You know how we have right? The Mahou net?"

"Yes, I spend most of my free time on it."

"Old world version of it. They thought of this first ya know, and it shows. Better music, better trolls..."

"And this helps me how?" He interrupted.

"It's the only place you'll find what you crave. It's where I get most of my music. Give me your mahou mail address once we're done here. I'll give you a ton of badass artists to look up on youtube."

"Funny *cough*, I thought we were trying to kill each other. I'll never get that mail if you die."

"Hey, we just might survive this. And you'd find what I want you to eventually." He closed his eyes and smiled serenely.

"You do know we're evenly matched right?" asked Liang to change the subject, "We're both near our limits and one of us likely won't survive the next exchange of attacks."

"Damn right. So how about we catch our breath," He breathed deeply, "And use our ultimate deathblows, sound good?"

"Yes. Let's end this. Using the strongest attacks we can summon…" Responded Johnson.

"That's the way!" He clasped her hand together, a multitude of sharpened objects of hate materialized above Bu as Vajra began to mutter a rather evil sounding incantation. The swords, chainsaws, and other implements of destruction were engulfed in a solid, blue light...

As he was doing that, Liang assumed a stance, his right palm pointing at Sunnynight. Motes of light began to form and flow from Vajra's chest into Liang's palm. Vajra felt a bit of his strength leave him as each mote flowed away from him. Liang got every aspect of this attack from a dream a few nights before, yet at this instant its name escaped him. It ultimately didn't matter, Ki users don't need to declare the name of their attack for it to work. Still, the fact he couldn't declare it bothered him in this case. He actually respected this enemy, enough to say that he actually liked him. He at least owed him the name of the technique that ended him, but he just couldn't provide it...

"Sorry Vajra, I swear that next time I'll give you the name of this mystery. Please survive…"He thought clenched his fist with killing intent…

Vajra got done 'casting' a few instants instant before his opponent. No attack was an 'ultimate deathblow' in his eyes if it couldn't be launched faster than the enemy's. Good thing he just barely managed to live up to his own standards. He cried out the name of his spell, **Imber** **Adamantis! (Steel Rain!) **At that declaration the blades suddenly shot towards his foe at incredible speed, blue streaks trailing behind them as the cracks of sonic booms filled the air.

If one so dared to do all the math they would discover that both attacks ultimately "went through" at the exact same time, the mystic equivalent of a cross counter. Both of them were fucked up beyond most recognition as a result. Their lives should have ended there to be honest, but their "will to live" was too strong. They had friends, lovers, ideals, it all kept them from going into the light. They simply weren't done yet. So instead of dying they both lie unconscious, the snow stained red with their blood. Vajra's dripping out of his mouth, Bu's oozing from his wounds (and one impaled shoulder), a psychotic smirk plastered across the face of the former, a serene look on the latter. Their fight a draw in every sense of the word.

Sneck and Tynave were now totally shitfaced and trying to film the fights whilst eating popcorn and chugging yet more drinks. Most of the bar was in ruins now, the front wall and most of the roof was damn near non-existent. Snow was piling up on the floor.

"Damn this ish good stuff! You're gonna get a bunch of new *hic* subscriptions cuz of this!" Yelled Sneck.

"You still *hic* owe me for the damageses." She responded.

"I love owing you me love." He kissed her deeply. She retaliated by shoving her tongue down his throat. Sneck summoned some prophecy and manipulation spirits to man the cameras. There were many fights, _many_ epic moments and speeches, and only a few cameras. They managed to catch most of the good stuff though.

"You're not bad. Who trained you?" Asked Inari.

"Your boyfriend just got done fightin' im." The were-tiger responded as he dodged a series of pressure waves.

"Sorry, that guy's a bit too crazy and idealistic to be my boyfriend. Besides," She dodged one hell of a right hook and countered with a roundhouse heel to the back of his head, "He's taken."

It sent him into the dirt, but he instantly recovered and launched himself away. "Ohhh? I see," He put his fist to his chin and nodded frequently, "Yes it all makes sense now. In truth you are the master of the middle-aged scrawny human with the oversized katana stuck to his back who just blasted that battle fetishist into next week correct?" He said all that in one breath.

"Damn right I did!" She said as she charged, "A few months ago he didn't know a sword from a twig," Her opponent raised his defenses, she hammered away at him with inhumanly fast blows, blows which he managed to absorb skillfully, "Now look at him, could hold his own against the best we got. Aren't you impressed?" She smiled gleefully. Ariadne professors would _kill _for students like him. Was she so wrong for wallowing in it a little?

"As IF," He responded indignantly, "Weren't those _guns_ he was using!" He parried her last attacks, sent her flying with a punch to the breastplate, and flared his aura. She recovered just in time to intercept a flurry of fist pressures. She cut through most of them, but the last two pierced her defenses. She was sent towards the horizon with a bloody face and a shattered breastplate. If fell away from her piece by piece, revealing her midsection as well as her favorite tube top.

"I'm surprised a furry like you even knows," She recovered midair, landing on a magic circle conjured from a charm hidden under her breastplate (that ended up on her belly when it was shattered, as per her preparations), and launched herself at him while slashing the air,** "_What they are!"_** She screamed as she sent two immense pressure waves towards him.

"Not as uncommon as you think ironing board!" He dodged the waves that would have taken his arms off (just barely though). They now stood several meters apart, circling each other slowly as they allowed their enemy to catch their breath, blood dripping onto the white snow.

"Damn useful I guess," he continued, "No incantation whatsoever, pure physical damage, and faster than hell. They'd be a real game changer. _If _it wasn't possible for us to deflect, dodge, or intercept bullets."

"And the full auto ones are so fucking cheap. No real art to them beyond spray and pray. Don't even have to pray at 'point-blank' range. Still, Alex is on to something. They _are_ pretty damn effective in the hands of a master like him." She responded.

"Indeed. I knew it from the moment I saw you. You and I are almost exactly alike in our view of the world. So how about it? Willing to forgive our trivial differences and give me a chance?" He asked hopefully.

"No way." She responded instantly, "I still don't like furries, and you called me ironing board just now. Only my closest friends get to call me that and not lose a limb. And even then," She assumed a stance, "I make them pay."

"I bet," He smiled as his aura flared, "So, want to end it the same way my sifu did?"

"Sure, why not?" _Fucking_ blatant lies, but her delivery was perfect on all levels. The greatest teachers learn from their students.

"Alright then." His aura flared and burned like that of a legendary intergalactic warrior. He was going to turn this dragon kin into one _hell_ of a gory crater...

"Sur-prise." She uttered right after she appeared behind him and cut him down. Word to the wise, if someone's alias is something along the lines of "bilateral bitch", plan accordingly.

"You…"

"Please. Did you really expect me to be as honorable as those two over-dramatic fucktards?"

"No…" He touched her tube top as he fell towards the dirt, transmuting it into dust, "but it was worth it." He said as he glanced her nipples but a moment before it all went black.

"**DIE!" **She screamed venomously as she raised her swords and thrust them at his heart.

"NO!" Yelled Itsuki as he tackled her, deflecting her otherwise fatal blow into empty air.

"You dumb fuck,_ I'll fucking kill you!"_ The look in her eyes...terrifying.

"I don't care! It's still not right! Niven'd never forgive me if I let you!"

"Do you honestly think you can take me on you little dipshit!" Her aura flared as she assumed a stance, eyes filled with hate.

"Do you honestly think I'll let you stop me from doing what I think is right?" He said as he stood up, as he reached for his staff. He was obviously as serious as she was. They glared at each other for a long moment…

"Ok fine. You win." She conceded as she sheathed her swords and draped a discarded cloak over herself, "But do you really have to heal an enemy?" She asked in an annoyed tone.

"You know I have to, my master would demand nothing less. However, that doesn't mean I can't break it into segments right?" He said with a wide smile on his face.

"Heal me first dipshit." She pointed to her bloodied face.

"No. This victim's critical." He said as he placed his glowing hands on the wounds, "Triage says he goes first. But, since you're a friend, I'll heal you right after I stabilize him regardless."

"Ahahahahaha! You're just like the old man. Loosen up a bit Itsuki, being serious all the time is bad for your health."

"I can't 'loosen up' when there's so much blood!" He protested.

"Sure you can. Just do this!" She approached him and stretched out his face. She was still bleeding herself, but she didn't want her friend worrying himself to an early grave and thought this would get him to relax.

"Sop ith!" He demanded.

"This is what you get for being an overly idealist idiot."

"Then wyt tho follow othne."

"Cuz I can," She was having quite a bit of fun stretching his face harder and started moving her arms up and down to increase the discomfort, "don't need a deeper reason than that. Now, you gonna stop being worried about everything and everyone all the time like your master, or am I gonna have to keep playing with your face?"

"Yeth. Yeth! I'll sthop ith!"

"Good." She released him, his face returning to its previous form in a most painful, yet humorous, manner, "Feel better now?"

"Why'd you do that!" he protested. He held back his answer of 'Yeah'.

"I think I just told you. Now," She pointed to her face, "Heal me."

As she said that Cipher walked through the remains of the door. All fights were resolved by then. Those who remained standing were too exhausted to fight anyone else. So they sauntered up to the bar, congratulating each other on their victories. Tynave was already up and waiting with a warm smile on her face as the first patrons approached. Sneck was still behind the bar, sitting upright. He tossed an empty fifth to the side, shattering it on the wall as he produced a new one from behind him.

"I swear, he's got boozespace." Thought Alex. Everyone else around had a similar thought, just put differently.


	18. Bonus Dungeon

After resting the night the party set out for the dungeon. Hunter's called it a "bonus dungeon", a classification they give to areas they consider a true mystery. It wasn't exactly lethal true, but there was also the problem that nobody had figured it out yet, and it didn't seem to belong to any ancient culture known. Thus nobody knew what kind of or how much treasure could possibly lie in its final chambers.

"Waste of time, or biggest mother lode of the decade? Will you live like a king? Or will you be driven insane by the secrets hidden within?" Was the general tagline for these things. Always a good amount of takers, but few of them ever did solve them. The ones that did, however, usually ended up quite wealthy and lived very well. That is, if they were moderately good at investing and had but a modicum of restraint in the usage of funds acquired (I.e. didn't throw a "cocain party" every day they could manage). Not many hunters fit the aforementioned profile (no points for guessing how fast they'd run through a "fat sack" of Drachma). Still, solving a bonus dungeon usually enabled a few years of truly conspicuous consumption without a need to work. Hence the large number of people who always attempted them.

This party, of course, was not interested in such things. They were out to 'save the world' as it were, the most hackneyed of clichés in storytelling. However, the thought of getting wealthier in the process didn't bother them in the slightest (I dare anyone to find a person who would be, just saying).

The weather was especially bad though, they were walking through a Hothian blizzard. It forced everyone save Inari to down their Maximum Strength Cold resist potions just to keep moving in spite of the fact they had dressed appropriately for this climate.

"This isn't good, I can barely see in front of me." Said Alex.

"Everyone hold hands!" Yelled Koine. They all formed a chain with her at the lead. She was essentially trying to drag all of them towards the anomaly her artifact detected.

"I assume Vajra is the contractor correct?"

Alex was talking about her new headgear/artifact. Imagine a set of headphones tilted forward so that the plastic arch was in front of your eyes. Only it was like you were supposed to put them on that way, and the arch completely covered the area around your eyes (even your eyebrows, unless you raised them). It was textured all over with hexagons, and it would occasionally shine various colors from left to right then back again, or outward in a diamond-esque pattern and then back again, or just random hexagons shining, could never tell what the next 'wave' would bring. From Koine's perspective it was not unlike looking through the visor of a certain fictional sci-fi heroine that's famous for slaughtering an energy draining species. She didn't know that of course, but hey, it's not my job to help her realize that the pactio spirits tend to like whatever people think is "cool" and cough up artifacts that shamelessly enable/rip off those concepts at _every _possible opportunity. Seriously, if Scott knew about them he'd compare them favorably to 'pattern spiders'.

"Nope, got this in a shop long before I met him."

"What's it called?"

"Translated, it is called The Eye of Ipos."

"What's it do?"

"Im not entirely sure. It seems to just grant several vision modes as well as give me relevant data about something if I scan it. The data is very through, as if I had studied it in the past and were looking over my notes in the future. However…"

"Now now dear, let's not bore him with techno babble." Interrupted Vajra.

"So if it has several vision modes, wouldn't it enable you to pierce illusions and other effects?"

"Yes actually, but it can't defend against compulsion or memory altering effects even if the scanner tells me it's coming and it hits me anyway. Only an Anti-mage or one like yourself is able to do so. Fun fact anomaly, an anti-mage is still vulnerable to illusions that catch them flat-footed. It's one of the best counters to them really, especially if combined with firearms. This is why you, in some instances, surpass even the anti-mage. Illusions just don't work on you period."

"Yet in the ultimate analysis they can lead relatively normal lives. Whilst I, who inspires instinctual hatred by my very presence, am doomed to be an outcast. (Damnit, that came out all emo, Scott'd ream my ass if he were here.)"

"Why the hell are you complaining you dumbass?" Said a very pissed off Inari, "You should be on you knees praising God for that ability! I mean seriously, that power, along with alllll the alienation and grief it's brought you, is the_ reason _you've become who you are. Yeah, it's 99 percent responsible for the fact that damn near everyone you ever met hated you. That's rough, I understand that. However, if it wasn't for that you would've never became a badass criminal, learned about magic's existence, studied your ass off because you just couldn't accept that as the answer to all the weird shit going on around you, met your son as a _result_ of the criminal activity your outcast status drew you towards, met Niven, met us, became a pretty good magic knight slash mystic marksman, are _instrumental_ in our plans to destroy the throne, and as a result will probably end up saving the grand majority of your species from regressing back to the fucking stone age! So, rather than becoming yet another boring, uninteresting, **worthless **salary man who spends all day tossing his boss's salad in the vain hope of one day becoming CEO of some random evil zaibatzu, you've become someone important and just maybe a bit respectable. So for Christ's sake you little bitch, show some gratitude!" Finished Inari. After a monologue of that size you'd think she'd have to catch her breath… but you'd be wrong.

"(And there's the reaming) I know, sorry." Said Alex.

"Don't be such a doormat Alex! You can fight back can't you?" Said Paula.

"She's right. I should be thankful. Still, the baggage exists master. I grew up with everyone, even my parents, hating my very existence. You can't know what that is like."

She sent a pressure wave his way, a malicious look on her face as she sheathed her sword. "I'm sorry, did I just hear you being a little bitch again?"

He cut through this attack reflexively as well.

"What kind of master attacks their student like that?" She unleashed more kanka enhanced iaido out yet more times, and he cut through them all the same.

"One that won't take that kind of shit from her pupils!" She yelled.

"This is getting us nowhere, stop attacking."

"Why should I!" She lunged at him and attacked him directly, their blades locking as a result.

"Because I'm asking nicely, please stop attacking me." Her aura flared up, he struggled to keep her at bay.

"Do you surrender?" She smiled. She was close to breaking his guard and they both knew it.

"Of course not. I just want us to conserve strength in case we run into an enemy." He retorted despite his obvious disadvantage.

"Good," She relented, "Glad to see you've been paying attention."

"Yes yes, I know they don't get much more tsuntsun than this my friend," Paula whispered to Alex a few moments later (once she was absolutely sure Mikoto was out of _any_ beings reasonable earshot in this shitiest of weather), "But stick it out Cipher. When girls like that get dere, ohhohohohooooo…"

"I already told you, I don't think of her like that." He responded.

"Sure. Right. I believe you." She said sarcastically.

"I really don't." He lies, LIES! Both to Paula and himself, but oh so perfectly.

"I can see it!" Said Tsuruda as the horizon-scan mode revealed an opening in the mountain.

"How far?" yelled Vajra.

"Not very! Just follow me, we won't even have to climb!" She responded.

"This blizzards getting worse by the minute! It's grand magic I'm sure of it!" Yelled Itsuki as he tried to get his voice to carry over the howling winds.

"Cipher, suppress your ability for a moment!" Bellowed Koine, he barely heard her.

"Alright." He closed his eyes and forced his area of effect down to near nothing. No small feat.

Everyone but him nodded. She handed each of them a few pills.

"What are these!" Yelled Cipher in his usual emotionless tone, the howl of the storm making communication nearly impossible through conventional means.

"You know how you need to get drunk to get rid of those headaches! These pills mimic that effect without any of the other symptoms! Keeping everyone at top performance even if something is breaking out the good stuff!" Responded a proud mad scientist, "Now, if you would be so kind as to expand your aura so that we're all covered…"

"As you wish." They all popped the pills. They felt weird for a moment, then felt fine. As they entered the cave they felt a slight tingling within their skulls, but nothing major or debilitating. Everyone that is, save Sneck and Vajra. Those two fell to their knees, gripping their heads and screaming in agony.

"Ahhhahahahaha!" Laughed Koine villianously, "And THAT is for getting me shitfaced on the sly you bastards!" It'-HO-HOOOP!" Cried Vajra as he convulsed on the ground. Sneck had naturally produced a gallon jug of whiskey and was chugging it down at maximum speed. She ripped the bottle from his hands and took a swig.

"Gah! This is the cheapest shit on the market! Here ya go you idiots, enjoy." She tossed them both a pill. This time they weren't placebos. They downed them greedily, a few moments later they were on their feet.

"I thought you loved me!" Yelled Vajra, a look of genuine hurt on his face.

"I do, but if I don't discipline you who will? Besides, I haven't done anything to you I haven't done to myself." She said matter of factly.

"You let Ffion nail her with her best mindfuck while under your effect!" Asked a shocked Sunny, restraining the desire to strangle Alex to death. Though that scene did appear above his head in thought.

"Yes. She said it was in the interest of science. I told her it'd hurt enough to justify suicide but she didn't believe me."

"Koine, are you serious?" He inquired.

"I needed to know if the effects were universal. Betting the farm on just four results is for undergrads though. Scientists of my caliber need a more sizable and varied test group. Would get 20 or 30 people from each species in on this, but given how hush hush this all is I'll take what I can get." Answered Tsuruda.

"Do you ever stop experimenting?" Sunny said in an annoyed tone.

"Me? Stop? Blasphemy!"

" *sigh* Why did I fall for you in the first place?"

"No idea. Still, I know why I fell for you."

"Cuz you can't figure me out?" He asked.

"Exactly! And the fact that you seem to have me down so well only compounds my infatuation for some reason! No matter how much I study you I can never nail you down yet you read me like a goddamned book! Oooooh!" She raised her fist in front of her with veins popping up in crosses on her forhead, yet she was obviously blushing. In that moment she was the incarnation of contradiction.

"Heh, you're friggin' nuts Koine." He said as he held her clasped her fist, the others silently agreeing. Coincidentally, that eliminated the veins of anger, leaving only a luminescent blush.

As this was going on Alex had started exploring the room. He saw three archways leading to other chambers. He tried the one straight ahead, only to have a stone slab slam down right in front of his face. Naturally, this got everyone's attention.

"Damn they trying to kill us!" Said Sneck

"(Oh hell, this is right out of one of Scott's games)" Thought Alex, secretly hoping it really was. Because he'd pretty much been forced to memorize this kind of thing. Given the way the world truly is, that otaku trait may have been the greatest "perk" Scott purchased at his own creation, but I'm getting ahead of myself…

"I don't have time for this." Said Koine as a large Gauss cannon materialized in her hands in a cool sci-fi way.

Vajra wrapped his hands around hers and anchored himself,"You ready my dear?" He asked.

"Fire!" Tsuruda yelled enthusiastically as Cipher dived for his life. A blinding flash emanated from the barrel, followed by a deafening boom. The slab didn't make it. Disintegrated by the power of science.

"Who needs keys when you got MAC's?" Asked Koine.

"I love it when you get destructive." Whispered Sunnynight into her ear.

"I know." They kissed.

"Hey you almost killed me." Said Alex with smoke rising from his head, a noticeable chunk of his hair now missing.

"Go farther Sunny! Gope her tits and…!" Yelled Paula.

"Silence/Can it you pervert!" Said Itsuki/ Mikoto as they interrupted her by sandwiching her face between their fists, knocking her out cold.

"Thank you." The lover's responded. Too bad they were sent into a wall by Inari's pressure waves right after say ing that.

"What was that for!" They responded simultaneously.

"You just gave my student a ballistic haircut! Alex, don't you want to repay them?"

He summoned a heavy weapon that Koine had ironically built and designed herself. It was big, bulky, and had three tri-barreled Gatling guns on it, "Not really," he would have said sarcastically, "but if you do insist…"

He forced a smile onto his face. He was attempting to make it scary, but as he has little experience with that expression it just ended up looking genuinely happy (which may be creepier, but oh well).

"We're sorry, we're soooooo sorry!" said Vajra, bowing down to Alex over and over again.

"She's not." He adjusted his aim so only Tsuruda would eat lead. Rubber actually, but she didn't need to know that right?

"Your reaction times are at the limits of human capability. Inari's been doing an excellent job training you."

"Say it or I open fire."

"Go ahead."

*Click*…nothing happened.

"You rigged it to ensure it won't fire on you directly, paranoid aren't we. However…" He reached for his big sword.

"Stop it all of you!" Yelled Emiya.

"If you say so kid. Let's keep going everyone. Oh, and Koine," He got within arms reach of her and touched her forehead with an extended middle finger, "I'll get you later."

"I'd love to see you try anomaly." Her evil eyes met a blank expression which ought to have matched her own. Either way, one could practically see lightning flowing between them.

"Now come on people, grudges won't get us closer to the throne. Where to Alex?" Asked Vajra.

"Wherever I feel like sadly. Damn ruins prevent a more rational allocation of resources."

"Ahahahahaha! Just now, you sounded exactly like Koine ." He gave him a very gay look. Obviously he was joking, but still…

"I'm nothing like her." He responded.

"Oh yeah you are. You two are damn near opposite sex clones. Though I bet you're not quite as uptight as her inside. Seriously dude, poker. You'll be rich!" He smiled and gave a thumbs up.

"I know. How do you think I continued to live in comfort after I ditched the underworld?"

"Like Mikoto said, gotta love what you are."

"I guess I do in the end. Still, regrets and possibilities will always linger."

"That is the curse of those bearing a high intelligence score," He said shrugging his shoulders with a conciliatory tone, "We see the unseen cost, we know more than anyone what could have been. Me, Koine, Niven, you, we all bear that burden."

"What about us?" Everyone save the kid asked.

"You too of course. What, think I'm dumb enough to call any of you stupid?"

"What, was that?" The unmentioned unanimously said in deathly calm. They were practically fuming darkness and evil intent.

"Ok, I didn't mean to that." He had talked himself into a corner.

Fun fact, Sunny never had much of a barrier between what he was thinking and what he was saying.

They advanced on him slowly, intending to bestow great violence unto this now pretentious bastard.

"Stop!" Itsuki yelled.

"Why?" Those implied not to be highly intelligent responded with vitriol.

"We're friends aren't we? Can't we tolerate small things like trivial opinions of one another?"

"He just called us stupid!" They pouted most vigorously.

"So? Prove him wrong and make him eat his words." He said eyes closed with a smile. So friggin' adorable.

"Pfff. Damned idealist can't comprehend how hard it is to think straight in the heat of battle." Thought Mikoto.

"Pry thinks keeping all the fetishes and terabytes of porn in my head straight is as simple as missionary." Though Paula.

"You try keeping up with modern undercover pig MO's, bacon boy magecraft, underground network rankings and black market pricing structures. See how it works out for ya ya pretentious goody goody." Though Jason.

Just like that, the hate and tension filling the air dissipated and all resumed their exploration of the ruins. Itsuki had managed to diffuse the situation. It was a skill Niven realized he had shortly after he recruited him years ago in that torched village. Emiya was, tragically, the sole survivor. So much needless death, destruction, and sadness should have traumatized him for life, yet he was able to see the good even in this most terrible of scenarios. It was as if he had not a hint of darkness or hate in his soul. A most creepy trait to all who comprehend what that actually means.

So they continued to explore the ruins, blasting away any obstruction dumb enough to get in their way. They would have made swift progress... if Tsuruda didn't have the compulsive need to scan and take samples of every little thing she came across. She even collected the bugs for crying out loud! Always mumbling, "more samples, more experiments, more data…" as if it was a mantra her life depended on. So after what seemed like an eternity, it looked like they were nearing the end of the dungeon when…

"**!**" The walls shook, the ground trembled, and the party was shaken.

"What was that?" Alex inquired immediately.

"A dragon." Mikoto responded nonchalantly.

"A dragon. A dragon?" the repeat should have ended with '!' but Alex never tried to hide his condition from these people. Besides, acting like he felt was always a draining task, even more so lately for some reason.

"Very old, very powerful, and very large by the sound of it. Pity they aren't _totally_ sentient like my kind. Like smart monkeys really."

"So this is going to suck very hard isn't it."

"Maybe not, we got a good team here, we can take it."

"They die if you behead them right?" Asked Vajra.

"Everything dies if you behead it," Inari said in an annoyed tone, "Why?"

"Koine? Didn't you want a selling point on that new weapon you just got done building?"

"Yes. Yes I did. It may have massive mystical power, centuries of experience, and fire breath on it's side, buu~uut…" She got on all fours. In an instant her arms and legs elongated, her hands and feet turned into paws and claws, her face and eyes transformed into one befitting a cat, and her entire body was covered in black fur. Oh, and two very large cannon-looking things appeared and strapped themselves to her back.

"I have the math!" She screamed confidently.

"Charge!" Yelled a drunken Sneck and Paula in unison. The party obeyed.


	19. Partial Revelation part 1

Partial Revelation

They had charged into a great antechamber, where Mikoto's thesis were confirmed. A _Huge_ Black Dragon was indeed waiting for them. It looked upon them with scorn and malice. Steam and soot were exhausted from it's giant nostrils before it roared once more, rubble falling from the ceiling as it did so.

"Hoooo-ly shiiit..." Said Vajra much like a certain announcer.

"A superb test subject." Said Koine.

"Oh crap this is gonna hurt worse than that time in the joint!" Said Sneck seriously as he took a swig of Schnapps.

"I'm glad I don't know what you mean brother." Said Alex as he summoned two triple Gatling guns, this time with live rounds.

"Errr, sorry?" Said Itsuki.

"Bring it on you feral piece of shit!" Yelled Inari as she drew her swords.

"Suck it down!" Yelled Tsurda as she fired her twin MAC's, the rounds flattening against the beast's scales and falling to the ground. She checked the charge rating...

"Vajra! I thought I told you to plug it in before we left!"

"Damnit. I _knew _I forgot something."

"You dumbass! It'll take it at least 5 minutes to reach critical from zero charge! This type of dragon is beyond even special events in the Colosseum! We might not last that long! Granted, this is _exactly _the kind of foe I was hoping for, but that was _assuming _critical charge. We might die here because of you!" Once more, she said all of this very quickly without taking a single breath.

"We all make mistakes Koine. Besides, don't underestimate this team. We can beat this bastard without your invention."

"But then I'm without a selling point!" She pouted.

"Better than being dead." He shrugged.

"Do you have any idea how many Drachma it takes to build just one of these! I _need _to turn a profit!"

"Profit? Money? I never thought you were this greedy..." And they just kept going on and on and on and _on _from there... The others wanted to stop them but then, how do you intervene in a lover's quarrel without becoming their common enemy?

The dragon was, obviously, confused and annoyed. People were supposed to be either running away or begging for their lives by now. Yet this group was... watching two people _bitch_ at each other. This was...annoying? No, Infuriating? Yes, infuriating, Infuriating! How _dare _they ignore me! He took a deep breath...

"Look out!" Yelled Paula.

Everyone save Alex dove for cover. He summoned his artifact and raised his barriers to maximum in a 45 degree angle to the torrent of flame exhaled by the dragon. This did little good, for though some of the flames were deflected, a good amount of the attack punched right through his barriers, filling the room with a sound not unlike shattering glass. He bet his live on the theory that his artifact could absorb any elemental attack. Fortunately for him, he was right. Just like at Stonehenge, the flames washed over him. That which should have incinerated him was instead sucked into the gems on his hands.

"Is everyone alright?" He asked

"Yeah. You weren't kidding Koine, this thing is way beyond the average dragon." Stated Vajra.

"Surround it and attack from all sides, rip the scales off or strike perpendicular to their grain in order to shatter them. Once you have a spot exposed drill into it with everything you got!" Ordered Mikoto.

"Why not just unload on it?" Asked Emiya.

"It's an ancestral-class dragon you dumbfuck! Those scales are serious business! Even if your attack easily pierces the barrier, those scales could stop DU rounds no problem. No experienced dragon slayer would ever dream of attempting to stop this foe alone..." The look on her face changed from barely restrained rage to one of sadness and regret, "let alone kill it..."

"This thing is trying to kill us, what's your problem?" Asked Alex as they all dodged another blast and began to encircle the dragon. Unloading on with the guns all the while. It was apparently immune to bullets of this type, but he was succeeding in pissing it off. Its attention was squarely focused on him.

"Good," He thought, "if I can keep him focused on me the others might have a chance."

"Dragons of this age and power are so rare you're lucky to see one even once in an Hellean lifetime. They are revered by the dragonkin for their power and as the legendary ancestors of their race. To her, we are fighting a manifestation of her ancestors. You're from Japan, you should understand what that means." Said Vajra.

"Never was very religious Sunny, my ancestors can kiss my ass."

"Nevermind!"

Vajra leapt into the air and pulled a very large spear from behind him. It was obviously another Koine custom job. Looked all cool and sci-fi, and the tip seemed to be vibrating at a few hundred oscillations a second. He plunged it into the creatures back, sparks flying everywhere as he twirled around the post on his way down, twisting it like a primitive drill. It was starting to crack the scales when the dragon's great tail swatted him off like an annoying insect. He skipped across the ground a bit, then dug the spear in, using it as a break. Emiya used a dislocation charm to appear right next to him and mend his broken bones (He slipped one between the weave of everyone's clothing so he could always perform such healing if need be. Boy learned paranoia from the best).

"Some tank you are Alex!" Vajra yelled.

"Well excuse me for not packing progressive ordinance otaku." He responded.

"Kid's rubbed off on him." Though Vajra.

"Chance!" Yelled Inari as she hacked away at the scales Sunny had failed to pierce. Sickening cracks filled the air as the cracks widened and deepened. The dragon's tail swatted at her like it had Vajra, but she easily dodged it, continuing her assault with pressure waves. The dragon responded by beating it's wings and sending itself flying upward at a frankly unfair speed. Inari was essentially pancaked on the ceiling, not dead of course, but definitely out of commission. This wing beat of giant dragon also sent her compatriots flying away. Emiya and Vajra were already grounded as it were, but they sure felt the shockwave. As she fell, the dragon added insult to injury by swatting her with it's tail as she fell to Mars. Alex used his artifact like a rocket, launching himself towards her and catching her right before she hit the ground. He landed on the far wall with her safe in his arms. He immediately checked her pulse and listened for breath.

"Good thing you're not human Minari, I would have died right there." Itsuki said as he appeared next to them a moment later. His hands glowing brightly.

Alex laid her gently on the ground. The dragon was about to blast them when Vajra's spear impacted one of its molars, viciously shattering it. Needless to say, that really hurt.

"Does it hurt? Does it huuuuurt? Oh it does doesn't it," He produced another progressive spear, "Want more? Yes he does. Yes. He. Dooo~eeees." His blue irises consumed the whites of his eyes and started to glow brightly.

"It's insulting me? Yes, it's insulting me. Why? Oh, I broke the thing that was trying to break me. He liked that thing. So he hurt me, it still hurts. _It hurts so much! He will pay!_" the proto-brain of the great dragon thought. It took a deep breath...

"Yeah. Yeah! That's it. Just a little more! C'mon, I believe in you!" He trolled.

"_Burn!"_

"Oh dear _GOD _you're such a fucking mark!" Vajra yelled and smiled slyly as he dropped the spear and assumed a stance. As the infernal flames washed over him he allowed his ki to flare, spinning around and moving his arms around in complex patterns, like a dance that's also martial arts practice. Through this he was able to fuse his Ki with the flames, it became one with them and thus one with Vajra himself as a consequence. The flames formed into a perfect hemisphere, only his silhouette and the trails of his glowing blue eyes could be seen through the purifying flames as he dervished in a world of destruction.

"I cannot defeat you with my own power, nor with the aid of my beloved's science. But with this technique I'll find out..." He thought. The fires that whirled around him intensified, fueled to greater heights of fury by his own burning determination

"If you can beat yourself!" He yelled in his mind as twirled around one final time and punched towards the dragon's midsection. The orb flowed and drained into an epic flume of fire. The dragon had but time to widen its eyes in shock and terror as the flames that ought to have wiped out his enemy were reflected back at him! They hit its chest like a sledgehammer, completely ignoring its not insignificant magical barrier. It was encased in flames, scales in it's chest cracking. Yet the scales endured, though now in the same shape as the ones he had plunged that spear into awhile back.

"I got it now! Adeat!" Yelled Jason. A legendary "axe" appeared in his hands. That is to say, a truly badass looking Gibson Moderne with a very sharp edge to it.

"Resonance!" He strung the cords and an ear-splittingly loud sound filled the chamber. Sadly for the dragon, Sneck knew what resonance meant. And he had intuited the frequency of the cracked scales from the sounds that had emanated from them while Inari was hacking away at them. The scales did exactly what you think they should, vibrate like crazy. The scales are, as Inari said, very tough and could easily take this kind of punishment... unless they were already substantially compromised. The cracked scales practically turned to dust and floated away in a very pretty stream of particles, exposing soft, oh so very vulnerable flesh. And, because the powers that be apparently have it out for this dragon (and because Vajra is blessed with _extreme_ amounts of luck), if you drew a straight line between the middle of the two holes, you'd pierce his heart through the left ventricle!

At that moment, Alex saw his chance and used instant movement to line himself up for the perfect shot, "Sorry Obsidianus, this is the only way I see..." Suddenly, all the magic in the air was gone, drained into his artifact in a blink of an eye like it was some kind of black hole. A sickening feeling filled everyone's stomach, but with that came a sense of accomplishment. They knew what was coming, and they knew it was their victory.

"Noooo!" A desperate shriek filled the hall as a shadow knocked him aside as he fired, the brilliant blast veering off course and arching towards the ceiling, barely missing Koine in the process and cutting a deep gash into anything along it's path. Seriously, it was a wonder the chamber didn't start to collapse after that kind of punishment.

"You win, we accept your power and skill. You are indeed worthy of secrets and treasures of this dungeon and indeed, this world." Said the new voice once more.

"My son may love this convoluted bullshit, but I assure you, I don't," He flared the aura of his magical power, as did all his conscious allies, "Tell us all you know, or we kill you both here and now sans all regrets."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, but I'm going to comply. After all, we are bound to."

"Hmmm, a trick of the light instead of a proper illusion. Looks like my ability isn't fullproof after all. Reveal yourself demon."

"As you wish..."


End file.
